Tears Under a Moonlit Sky
by ZeoViolet
Summary: Reki...haunted by an incomplete dream, knowing it is horrible yet yearning to remember and have her curse broken...then one day a new cocoon is discovered, with a girl whose missing cocoon memories sound hauntingly familiar...
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**__ Yoshitoshi ABe owns Haibane Renmei; I don't. I am just borrowing them for a little while. I only own Aoi._

_Slightly AU. Cuts in shortly before Reki's sin-bound curse is removed--although she has more time alloted her before her Day Of Flight, in order for this story to work._

_A note on spellings: I've chosen to use the Glie variant of Guri for the name of the town, and Toga instead of Tooga. The Communicator was a bit of a problem for me. I decided that when I referred to him in the more subjective sense, I'd call him The Communicator. In a more personal sense, such as when he's speaking, he's referred to as "Washi". Beings as I'm not Japanese and often struggle with these sorts of terms, this was to make it easier in my own head, and I hope you understand._

_Note for variation: Some of you may have seen this on the Old Home Bulliten Board. It is the same story. Since I typed this from WordPad, this was what was contained in the first 'chapter', so yes, it is indeed very long! After I finish the last 'section' for 'chapter' two, what is missing, so far, will be placed here as well._

_Critiquing: If you don't like it, don't read it. The early story is deliberately meant to sound vaguely familiar but with darker undertones. Eventually, the story branches out to form its own path. Stick it out, enjoy Aoi because she is her own person with a definite reason for being born, and again, if you don't like it, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Just enjoy!_

_**Ker-thump!**_

Reki dropped the end of the heavy old box she'd been hauling to store in one of the unused north wing rooms. Rakka had been helping her, vaguely recalling that Reki's room DID seem too full of junk to have it in there anymore. She refused to store it in her deeper studio room, the heart of which Rakka had never seen.

Rakka coughed at the resulting cloud of dust, while simultaneously staggering at the heaviness she could not hold by herself.

"Reki, what--"

Her own voice was cut off as she opened her brown eyes again and stared at what was filling the room, so large it had pushed most of the other junk out of the way.

"Oh, my..." was all she could say.

An enormous cocoon filled the room, large and white, the surface just beginning to turn charcoal gray.

Reki just stared, and her breathing became shallow and quick, very fast. A small part of Rakka's mind was glad that for once, Reki wasn't smoking. She'd have made herself sick, breathing like that.

"Oh my lord," Reki breathed, pushing abruptly into the room, not caring if she risked breaking an ankle over the displaced junk. "Another one, so soon? We don't usually find..."

Rakka let the other end of the box go. It was just too heavy. She too pushed into the room.

"Reki? Is this really a--?"

"Yes," answered Reki. Her black eyes, which to Rakka's distress had been so heavy with sadness latey from the pain that _had_ to be eating at her, were, at least for now, alive once more.

"But..." Reki continued, putting both her hands on the outer shell of the cocoon and staring up at the network of roots that anchored it to the ceiling, "It just seems...impossible...that this could be here without us noticing. A second time!"

Rakka knew what she meant. She'd been told that her own cocoon, just months before, had barely been found and the room cleaned before she'd woken up inside it.

"I searched this whole north wing when I was looking for a room of my own," Rakka asserted, coming up and feeling the roughness of the outer surface in wonder. Just inches beyond her fingers had to be floating a new life, a new Haibane. Something to help ease the memory of Kuu's loss. "Although...I think maybe I missed a room or two because I became convinced this whole wing was uninhabitable."

"It must have been growing even as we found you," Reki declared. "Although in its early stages. Cocoons take around four months to grow. And most--" A sudden shadow came over her face. "Very few are found in the depths of winter."

Rakka stared at her, quietly distressed by her sadness. _Reki, I swear, somehow I'll do my best to free you of your sin-bound curse. To be sin-bound causes far, far too much pain._

This was only cried out in her heart. She pressed her ear against the rough outer husk of the cocoon, listening for the quiet bubbling noises that the Haibane within might be moving a little bit in her sleep, unaware of how much she was about to lose in her new identity--and how much she had to gain.

She opened her brown eyes and smiled at Reki. "I don't think we'll be putting the box in here then," she nodded gently in the direction of the box half-blocking the doorway, forgotten.

"No," said Reki, a real smile back on her face. "No more junk in here. All that is in here will have to go, and within the next few days, I believe. If she were born with this room still so full of junk--the thought is not only sad, she'd be physically hurt. This room had become a storage room of sorts."

She eyed the displaced junk with distaste.

"Could she be a Young Feather?" asked Rakka as they finally tore themselves away from the cocoon and picked their way back to the doorway.

"I doubt it," answered Reki. "The cocoon is, in fact, I think slightly bigger than even yours was, Rakka, and yours was large enough...she may be your size, or a bit taller. Besides, most of our Young Feathers have been found at Abandoned Factory."

"I knew we fostered them," answered Rakka as they got to the door. Reki shoved the box aside and closed the door gently behind them.

"We don't get a lot of them ourselves. Sometimes they show up in groups of two or three. Kuu was like this. The only Older Feather among them. Groups almost always mean Young Feathers. Her cocoon might not have been as large as yours, but certainly bigger than theirs."

She sized Rakka's hand as she began to speed up. Rakka gave a startled yelp and followed after her. "Rekiiiii!!!"

"Sorry!" called Reki. "These things are always important, Rakka! The fact that the outer surface was turning gray means we don't have much time."

"Okayyyy..." rasped Rakka, struggling to keep up with Reki as they flew out of the building and across the courtyard.

"Dammit I hope Nemu's not working today," Reki mused aloud as she practically dragged Rakka into the building where the Guest Room was.

"She's nooooot," Rakka nearly wailed, grateful when Reki let go of her hand. She didn't mind, much. Reki was finally acting a little bit like herself for the moment. She'd been acting so..._distant_ ever since Rakka had freed herself of her own sin-bound state.

"Good!" Reki rasped, gasping for breath. She reached over and nearly jerked open the door to the Guest Room. "Nemu?!"

Nemu looked up and nearly dropped the teacup she'd been about to place on the neatly-set table. "Reki? What is it?"

"Rakka...I...north wing...cocoon!" Reki gasped out between trying to catch her breath.

"I swear this is what comes of your smoking," Nemu sighed before the last word Reki had gasped caught up with her. Her eyes opened wide. "What? A cocoon? _Now?_ At this time of the year?"

"Isn't that what I said?" Reki rasped, finally starting to catch her breath.

"But--isn't it too soon?" stuttered Nemu, giving Rakka a quick glance.

"It is turning charcoal gray and will soon hatch," said Reki stubbornly. "You _know_ we can't predict these things, Nemu."

"Carcoal gray?" Nemu repeated, her mind trying to assimilate this information. "Why, it must have been growing even as Rakka hatched! And this is winter..."

She paused at seeing the look on Reki's face. "You're right," she said quickly in response to Reki's unspoken words. "They can be found at any time of the year. Once yearly is the usual pattern, that's all. It is by no means the rule. And some might not appear for several years."

Rakka just blinked, only partially understanding the byplay she was witnessing. Before she could speak Hikari and Kana entered the room, their faces alive with curiosity.

"What was all the commotion?" Kana demanded, noticing _some _sort of very interesting discussion had to have been going on. It was written all over their faces.

"We saw Reki tearing across the courtyard and practically dragging Rakka's arm off in the process," chimed in Hikari. "It had to have been _something_ to cause that."

"Well, _something_ is right," answered Nemu placidly. "They discovered a new cocoon in the North Wing."

"_What_?" squawked Kana. "That is impossible, isn't it?"

"No, not really," was the calm reply as Hikari gave an excited grin. "Unusual maybe. Whatever the case, we don't have much time. The surface is already starting to turn gray."

"Doesn't that give us only a few days at the most?" sighed Kana, picturing her boss getting upset at her for asking for more time off again so soon. She'd surely have to...

"It most certainly does," said Nemu. "The north wing? I thought Rakka covered that wing not too long ago, when she was searching for a room. It should've been found then, shouldn't it?"

Rakka blushed. "I think I missed a room or two," she admitted hesistantly. "That building just doesn't seem haibtable and I gave up on it."

"It is not the best wing," Nemu admitted. "So we'll have to take great care to get the newborn here safely once she hatches. This is winter, and she'll get a dreadful cold right away if we don't. That would be an awful thing to endure at the same time she grows her wings."

"Well, we don't want that," piped up Hikari. "Both Kana and I have to work today, Nemu. I can get some time off though. This is too important to miss."

"I'll have a harder time," grumbled Kana, with an irritated look on her face. Her arms were up in the air and she'd bent them back behind her head in a typical Kana stance. "Master won't be pleased."

"He'll agree," said Nemu firmly. "This is important where the Haibane is concerned and the humans aren't supposed to interfere too much with us Haibane."

"I'm supposed to work at the Temple today," said Rakka quietly.

"You had better go today," said Nemu calmly, coming back from where she'd ducked into the kitchen to grab some of the breakfast she'd prepared. "The Communicator might want to know early that we'll have a new Haibane on our hands. And you can bring the Halo mold with you. Just ask and he'll let you borrow it."

"Maybe you'll want to be the ring bearer this time," said Kana, a wicked look on her face.

Rakka blinked as she found her seat. "The ring bearer? _Me_?"

"Oh, every Haibane should do that at least once," said Kana carelessly. "Unless you want Hikari doing it again."

Hikari blushed angrily. "Kana, you haven't done it before either!" she snapped, irritated.

"That sort of thing isn't my playing field," answered Kana.

"You just like tinkering with your watches!"

"It is safer than pouring pancake batter into a halo mold."

"You're mean!" Hikari blushed furiously.

"You guys, there is no need to fight," said Rakka quickly, her hand going reflexively up to her halo, although she was smiling. She'd gotten over that. "I'll get the halo mold."

"And the rest of you must go to work today." Nemu's face had its usual calm, sleepy look now. She was sure everything would be okay. "After today, though, see what time off you can get. Reki and I can stay here and start moving some of the junk out of that room."

"Can we do all that after breakfast?" Kana whined. "I'm sure our new pal will still be napping in her cocoon while we eat. I'm starving!"

Nemu chuckled. "Hope you're in the mood for pancakes."

"Oh, _no!" _Hikari groaned, realizing her breakfast would not be a peaceful one.

* * *

"Have you finished your work?" asked the old Communicator that evening, looking up from where he was writing when he heard the greeting jingle. 

Rakka lowered her bell-laden wrists and quickly moved her right wing, the bells attached to it meaning "yes".

"All right then. I bid you goodnight. You may go, and have a safe walk home." Washi was about to resume his writing when he noticed an apprehensive look cross Rakka's face, and her wrists tighten together further, as they jingled faintly.

"Is there anything else you wished to ask me?" he said faintly, the jingle from Rakka's right wing telling him that was the case.

"Very well. I will permit you to speak."

"I must ask you if I may borrow the halo mold," said Rakka nervously. She didn't know why she was nervous, as she no longer feared this old man. He was too nice to her for that.

"The halo mold," he said somberly. "I see. You have a new Haibane who will need it soon."

"Yes," answered Rakka. "Reki and I discovered the cocoon this morning in the North Wing. Nemu says it will hatch very soon."

"I see." Washi stood up. "Yes, you may borrow the halo mold. It will be given to you already filled and ready. All you need do, Rakka, is be careful with it, as it will be extremely hot."

Rakka tensed, a surprised look on her face. She could swear Washi sounded faintly amused in what he said next.

"I take it, after all, that you will be the halo bearer this time."

"Yes," whispered Rakka. Washi could see the many myriad emotions in her brown eyes.

"You need not fear it. You may be only a few months old, Rakka, but you have already faced much joy and sadness in your life here in Glie. You are a good Haibane, and will do your part to be a positive influence on the newborn."

Washi was right, Rakka realized. It wasn't the halo mold that was making her nervous. It was her own feelings about herself, after all she had been through--but being a good Haibane meant passing on what she had learned already, wasn't it? She could step into Kuu's place now, and be the reliable Senior Haibane.

Washi turned to one of the attendants and began making gestures with his hands. Rakka had begun to notice the shapes of their hands and was strongly reminded of the odd patterns on the light tags, down inside the Wall...

Sumika's words came back to her, as Rakka remembered their talk on the petrified book in the Library. The discussion on the symbols and Sumika's remarking, _"They kind of look like someone's hands..."_

Washi turned back to her. "The attendant will be back shortly." His masked face looked upwards at the snow drifting gently down upon them from the open sky far above, seemingly oblivious to the cold. "It is not common for cocoons to be ready to hatch in winter," he remarked.

His comment made Rakka start. "Is it a bad thing?" she queried.

"No. A Haibane cocoon can appear at any time, at any moment of the year. Most arrive in late spring, and are found late in summer. There is no reason for why it is this way, but it is by no means an absolute rule, and it has no bearings on the Haibane sleeping in the cocoon."

Rakka had to stop herself from asking whether that meant that winter-born Haibane were not always Sin-Bound. She had come to understand, without being explicitly told, that Reki perhaps thought this was the case. She had been born in winter, and her wings had erupted from her back, the dark markings of an unblessed Haibane showing clearly even through the blood.

The attendant returned a moment later, the wrapped halo mold held carefully in his outstretched arms. He walked up to Rakka and held it out to her.

Rakka quickly held up her wrists, so the bells on them jangled in their voiceless language, before she reached out and accepted the mold from him. The package was warm, and yet was not too hot.

"Bear the mold safely and with dignity," said Washi as the attendant retreated silently. "Now go."

His cane gently thumped on the ground, telling Rakka she was dismissed. She bowed to him and quickly left the confines of the temple, stopping only so another attendant could remove the bells from her wings and wrists. Automatically her footsteps carried her over the narrow ledge she no longer feared, and across the bridge that no longer sent her heart racing with terror.

She had to get back. A new Haibane was about to be born.

* * *

Rakka headed directly to the North Wing. Nemu was just stepping out into the hall with her typically tired look, mop and bucket in hand. A room down the hall had been opened--and the door fallen off its hinges--where drag marks on the dusty floor showed items had been moved. 

"Oh, Rakka, you have the halo mold--good!" she yawned. "Reki and I managed to get most of the junk out of the room and clean it up a bit. And none too soon--she hasn't hatched yet, but when Reki was out of the room at one point I put my ear to the shell. She may not be fully awake yet but she's moving restlessly in there."

Rakka clutched the mold carefully to her. "I hope she's not having a bad dream."

"I don't know if she's dreaming or not," answered Nemu. "Nobody knows at what exact point we have our cocoon dreams, Rakka. In either case, it won't be long. Maybe even by tomorrow. Reki spent some time getting the guest room ready, and a couple of extra blankets right in the room next to this one, on top of the junk."

"Why next door?" asked Rakka, not knowing why they could not be kept in this room.

"We will have to get her to the west wing without her getting cold in this weather, or she'll be sick right away. You may not remember it, Rakka, but there is enough fluid in that cocoon to turn this room into a tidal wave once the walls are ruptured."

Rakka looked a little askance and Nemu chuckled. "I remember with yours, all of the rest of us got too close because we were eager to see a cocoon hatch and we all got soaked. The fluid inside carried you out onto the floor. Reki got to you first, and you looked at her momentarily before passing out."

"Reki did that?" Rakka smiled to herself. "I wish I remembered that."

"Some do, and some don't. Some, it would have been better off if they _didn't _remember anything before waking up to grow their wings."

For a moment Nemu looked a bit troubled, before she noticed Rakka was reading her expression exactly.

"Keep up your faith in Reki," she said in a voice so low Rakka barely heard her. "We all should keep up our faith in Reki."

Rakka puased and gave her a slightly sad look before nodding. Nemu was the last one in Old Home besides the Housemother who knew Reki's troubled past, and she still felt the same.

"Where is Kana?" asked Rakka suddenly, wanting to change the subject. "I thought she'd be back by now."

"Last I heard, she was taking out some of the trash in this room to the garbage area, and cursing out the crows," sighed Nemu. "That is a battle she just isn't going to win."

"I haven't seen her take a broom to them lately," admitted Rakka.

"She probably feels no need any longer," said Nemu. "She'll still yell at them though. You don't have to swing a broom at a crow to remind them that they have rules they are bound by and must adhere to. They should keep to their freedom of flying over the walls."

Rakka agreed. She had a feeling the crows understood their special freedom better than any human, or most Haibane, gave them credit for.

"Um, what should I do with this?" Her arms tightened over the carefully wrapped mold she held.

"Keep it in your room, for now," she said. "We cannot use it until after the newborn wakes up."

"Will...the halo stick?" asked Rakka hesistantly.

Nemu smiled. "Don't worry about it," she sounded distinctly amused. "They don't _always_ stick on a Haibane at first. Hikari's tinkering didn't help matters any, you understand. Your halo will probably always smell of pancakes a little bit, but it is otherwise no worse for the wear."

Both of them laughed quietly.

* * *

That night, Reki had chosen to take the first watch. She sat in the room in the North Wing, wrapped in a blanket and staring at the cocoon. Not an easy sleeper, she didn't figure she'd doze off during her shift. 

She sighed and reached out, touching the tough outer husk. She just didn't understand. Why? Why a new one now, just as she felt the darkness of her inner world reaching out to claim her?

She'd felt that pull, that feeling that things had been ending for her soon. Ever since she had laid eyes on this cocoon that pull had begun to fade. She'd been trying to shift her responsibilities to others so that they'd be able to handle things once she was gone.

It was why she didn't understand this. She'd never known for a Haibane to sense their time was nearly up, and then have the feeling fade. These things could not be controlled, could they?

_Probably that damned old man would be the only one to know the answer to that..._

While she'd not outright shirk her duties, now or ever, until her time was up, she could not go back to what she was doing, her preparations for that darkness, until this new Haibane was on her feet. Maybe that was why. A few extra days because there weren't enough hands to go around.

Until Kuu had left, there hadn't been a Day Of Flight in five years, probably because of that very reason. Not enough hands to go around.

Especially in those early days, her, Kuramori, and Nemu. Her and Nemu, still children themselves, and Kuramori, the only Haibane adult figure taking care of three other very small children...

Why had it taken her so many years to realize that Kuramori had held on as long as she could? Probably far past her own time she had held on. Was that possible? Did a Haibane have even a _little_ control over such a fate, despite what that old man prattled about? Kuramori had always been so strong with her love and concern for others. Could that love have held her until she and Nemu were a little bit older and assumed more responsibilities on their own?

What about Nemu? More and more she seemed to fit her name...sleeping..._waiting_. She should have long since taken her own Day Of Flight, not stick around because she was worried about Reki in particular. Reki didn't want to accept Nemu worrying so much about her, but she had no power to force her to stop. Nemu surely had overcome her own problems long, long ago and except for worrying over her, Reki, she was just sleeping, and waiting...

And Rakka...how had that gone so completely wrong? Rakka had been her hope, her key to salvation, and yet _she_ had been the one forgiven her sin-bound state...

No. No! She couldn't feel that way...she _wouldn't _allow herself to feel that way! Rakka was free from the worst curse a Haibane could suffer. She could not and would not let Rakka suffer any more pain.

"So then..." she murmured aloud, her fingers caressing the shell of the coccoon, "why are you here?"

* * *

Reki didn't expect it, but she very nearly did doze off, her head leaning against the cocoon as she drowsed, her mind drifting in and out of reality. 

Suddenly a wooshing, bubbly sound made her black eyes snap wide open. Startled, she looked around, then heard the watery bubble sound again, from inside the cocoon.

_Oh god! Is it hatching? _Reki wasn't sure, but if it was there was probably no time to run for another person to help before the cocoon's walls were parted.

The noise inside got louder, as if the occupant was thrashing about. Yet no cracks appeared on the outside of the cocoon, no indication that the girl inside was trying to break free.

Reki stood up fully, both hands on the graying outer husk of the cocoon. Was she dreaming, then? Having her cocoon dream?

It disturbed Reki. Nobody knew exactly when inside the cocoon the Haibane lost everything, and dreamed the images that would stay with them all their days in Glie. It disturbed Reki greatly to think that this girl's potential dream was instead, a nightmare, from how she was thrashing.

It was a very bad sign.

"It's all right," she said to the cocoon, not knowing if the occupant inside could hear her or not. "Don't worry...it'll be all right. You won't be alone. We'll protect you. I'll protect you."

The thrashing inside seemed to subside after that. Reki's heart was beating fast, and her fists clenched against the cocoon's walls.

Why had she said that? This wasn't Rakka's cocoon. She'd prayed Rakka was her special sign from God, and it was a bet she'd lost, hadn't she? Even Rakka...even Rakka had left her behind. Rakka didn't need her at all, in the end.

She had no purpose left now, except get this Haibane on her feet and wait for the darkness to engulf her, to never let anyone know it, and to stop making promises she couldn't keep.

* * *

_Blue._

_There was so much __**blue**_

_She was floating in it, adrift. She was surrounded by a deep turquoise, bottomless almost...an endless sea on all sides, but it didn't feel like water. She wasn't wet like in an ocean._

_Only off in the far, far distance did the blue seem to melt away in a silvery color._

_"Where am I?" thought the teenaged girl, not understanding how her thin body could float around like this. "What is this place?"_

_She wore nothing but a white robe, one soft and fluffy to the touch, almost as light and bouyant on her body as the very blue that held her in it's grip, nothing beneath her bare feet._

_The blue around her seemed to waver, and get even darker and more vibrant. A faint rushing sound filled the girl's ears, yet she wasn't frightened._

_Something was coming closer, although she didn't know what._

_The rushing sound got a bit louder, and sudden dots of light appeared out of the silvery mist, rushing towards her. The girl stared, fascinated, as they got larger and became spheres of white._

_She didn't know what they were, but they sure were pretty._

_Suddenly within a few feet of her they stopped speeding, and started drifting by lazily._

_Intrigued, the girl tried paddling in the blue around her and found she could gain some movement. She got closer to those white spheres and peered closer._

_They reminded her of white bubbles, but inside there were tiny scenes, activity. None were really distinct, caught up in a haze. _

_But she was sure she could see figures moving in them, make out bright sunny days, and when she caught up one and pressed it to her ear, she was sure she could hear very faint, fuzzy laughter, the laughter of children._

_"What are these things?" she murmured, letting the bubble go. They played like a person's memories. Or glimpses of another life. But whose? Although she could make out small figures in these bubbles, she could not tell even what they were doing._

_The bubbles drifted on by. Somehow what was in those bubbles was important and yet, she did not seem to have anything to do with them anymore. Did she ever? She wasn't sure. If they were of no importance to her now, then why did they drift by like this?_

_The bubbles drifting by suddenly began to get darker. The girl was startled. Sadness seemed to emanate from them. A feeling of anxiousness gripped the girl's heart as she daringly reached out to catch another._

_"It sounds like weeping," she murmured, letting the sphere go quickly._

_A sense of coldness reached into the depths of her heart as one very large bubble suddenly drifted into view._

_It was black._

_And felt just as dark as it looked._

_The girl knew she should be frightened. Darkness emanated from that bubble. She shouldn't touch it. She should never have touched any of them and yet..._

_She was drawn to it._

_She caught ahold of it and held on tightly. Anxiously she stared down into the darkness, as her heart began to pound unmercifully._

_Shadows began to form and take shape in the blackness. She could see...she could see a path. Pebbles. Stones. Small stones._

_A large yellow orb also formed. Was it moonlight?_

_Crying. She could hear crying. Someone was crying._

_Then two people were crying...and a dreadful noise, coming ever closer..._

_The girl wanted to let go of the sphere. But she wasn't able to. She was overwhelmed by a sense of suffering that was hers and yet wasn't hers. The scene in the sphere suddenly became crystal clear for her to view._

_What she saw made her scream._

_And a great sense of sadness and pain rush up to claim her. And above all, the painful sense of loss._

_It almost did, but then a bright white light came rushing over her, tearing her away from that nightmare, from that awful sense of loss, easing her pain, and putting her back adrift into that endless ocean of blue._

_Weak now, exhausted from everything that had wrenched her heart, the girl's eyes began to close and she let the blue claim and suspend her once more, as one more whisper came through the turquoise to whisper something she fell asleep on..."I'll protect you."

* * *

_

It was how Rakka found Reki a short while later, when she showed up to take watch for a couple of hours.

Reki was just standing there, her hands stitll on the cocoon, and she was staring at it.

"Reki?" Rakka sounded worried, and went to stand behind her. "Reki, what is wrong?"

Nearly caught off-guard, a look of surprise came over Reki's face before she could hide it, or the deeper myraid emotions that were in her eyes, just the sort of thing Rakka had focused on lately.

"I--she was sleeping rather badly in there, Rakka," she said.

"Is she having a bad dream?" asked Rakka, coming up beside her and putting one of her own hands on the husk.

"I think she was. She was--" Reki paused. "She was thrashing. She's quieted down now though."

There was a silence.

"It might not be that way, Reki," Rakka put forth, almost tenatively. "The old Communicator said aloud that while winter cocoons might be unusual, they didn't have any real bearing on the Haibane inside them."

"Hmph! Like that old man knows everything of what he prattles!" snapped Reki. Her voice softened immediately upon seeing Rakka's startled look.

"Her distress was real," said Reki quietly. "If that was her cocoon dream...if she is born sin-bound..."

"Then we should treat her the same as always if that is the case, right?" said Rakka.

A faint bitter smile came to Reki's lips. "Yes. She's left everything behind now in coming here. She deserves a chance. Nobody else ever need know if her feathers burst through her skin black as night. I'll smuggle in some dye just in case, and tell her what she needs to know before things get out of hand. There's no reason why she can't strive to live a decent life here in Glie. If we're caught I'll take responsibility."

Rakka didn't say anything at first.

"You'll need help to accomplish everything, Reki," she said quietly. She swallowed. The older girl who seemed so sure of everything, sure this new Haibane was doomed from the start. "I'll help to make sure she doesn't suffer."

Reki smiled. "A good Haibane is kind to the weak," she said. Her hand rubbed the roughness of the cocoon. "We'll get her started off right. I had better teach you how to care for a newborn Haibane anyways. While that has always been my job--well, it doesn't mean that just I should know how to handle it, right?"

Rakka smiled a blank smile. How just like Reki to rationalize any offer for 'help' she had to take as a necessity, and never truly ask for help for the sake of asking for help.

There was something, however, she knew she had to do when Reki wasn't around. Reki had no trust in the Communicator. Rakka had learned to trust him totally, just as she'd come to understand the bird's purpose when she was at the bottom of the well. Both had helped in releasing her from her sin-bound state.

The Communicator especially had taught her that she need not fear him and that he had meant it when he said she could approach him if she was in trouble.

And deep in her heart she knew that all of this, while not the best of signs, in the end still didn't mean that the poor soul inside the cocoon was sin-bound. Only time would tell that for sure.

* * *

The next day dawned, and passed, and evening fell once more. 

"You're very patient, you realize that?" Reki commented offhandedly to Kana as Rakka showed up for her turn to watch the cocoon. Reki had only followed her to check on things in general.

"You pace any more and you'll wear a hole in the floor," laughed Rakka.

"Hmph! I never said I was the most patient person alive," snapped Kana. "I'd rather be tinkering with my clocks, thankyouverymuch."

"Duty as a haibane first, clocks second," Reki said almost cheerily. "I don't think we'll have to wait much longer anyways. The surface is an even grayer shade now. She could hatch at any time."

"Hopefully soooon," mourned Kana, laying her head against the rough outer husk of the cocoon. "I was starting to visualize hammers again."

Reki chuckled. "Same old Kana," she remarked. "You know the drill: We can't do that."

Rakka listened to this blankly. "Hammers? I don't understand."

Kana patted the cocoon absently. "Eh, it just seems to me we'd save time cracking open this thing ourselves but Reki never lets us. 'Against tradition' she preaches."

"I'm not preaching and you know it," said Reki. "She won't grow strong if she can't break out by herself."

She did not mention her thoughts turning back to Kuramori, whose health had always been delicate. She'd wondered more than once if Kuramori had encountered trouble breaking out of her cocoon that led to her having such frail endurance.

"I'm still not sure that is just an old myth," shrugged Kana. "But whatever. I hope you're here to take over, Rakka. I'm starved."

"Of course I am," smiled Rakka. "Go and eat, Kana."

"Finally!" grinned Kana happily, about ready to make for the door in any case. "I'd even endure the Young Feathers pestering me constantly with questions than pace this room, although I'd like to stick around for the main event. Too bad for the kids you barred all the entrances to this building, Reki."

"The kids don't need to be running around the room possibly rupturing the cocoon before the new girl hatches on her own," said Reki, remembered how she hadn't had a moment's peace all day with the kids begging to see the cocoon.

"You're only provoking them, just like last time," warned Kana, heading towards the door.

They were stopped, however, by a loud 'glub' from the cocoon itself. It made everyone freeze, and look at each other.

Did that mean...?

* * *

_Floating._

Again? Hadn't she been floating before? Floating in a blue ocean that wasn't water? A sea of liquidless turquoise?

_Am I still in that strange place? It felt like a dream... _

She moved her arm, and felt a swishing sensation. Wet.

Her eyes snapped open. _Wet?_ She hadn't been wet before.

Was this another dream?

Startled, she looked around.

She wasn't surrounded by blue now. She was...floating. Suspended.

_Where am I?_ she wondered. Was this a new dream? Had it changed?

her world had turned into a greenish color. And fluid was all around her. She was enclosed in some place, like a small room in which she floated, but she could see no way in, or out.

She took a deep breath, trying to get her bearings. Her eyes suddenly opened wider when she realized that what she had just inhaled hadn't been air.

She gave an involuntary jerk, thoughts of drowning coming to mind. Inadvertently she breathed again, and suddenly became aware that she felt no worse for the wear.

Well, that was something...whatever this was, she could breathe it. How strange.

Just where was she? She wasn't entirely sure she was awake. Surely she hadn't been before...

But she was wearing that robe. That white, seamless robe from before was still on her, floating along with her.

She gave an experimental kick, propelling herself a short way, towards that green. Her hand touched a very soft wall of sorts. Surprised, her fingers could sink into the goo, and she ended up pulling a handful away from the wall. It squished in her fingers.

She looked up, puzzled. There seemed to be a hard surface beyond that. She shook the stuff from her fingers to reach out and touch it.

Strange...it felt rough, and yet smooth. And quite hard.

She knocked against it gently. It didn't seem all that thick. Maybe she could break it?

And then what? Wouldn't it be a bad thing? What lay beyond these walls, this strange world of liquid? The vague instinct came to her that her time in here was up, but she didn't seem to quite know what to do about it.

Sudden sounds reached her ears. They were almost distinct, like voices.

_"Kids...running around the room..."_

_"You're just provoking them..."_

They were people's voices! Outside.

Yes, her time in here had to be done, although she still wasn't sure how she sensed that.

She reached out and scooped more of the goo away, then knocked on the wall harder. And then harder. It was her only means of getting out.

* * *

The knocking sound on the outside of the cocoon was obvious to the three Haibane in the room. 

"It's started!" cried Kana unnecessarily.

"Don't go anywhere, Kana!" warned Reki unecessarily.

"Of course not!" snapped the other girl. "I am, however, getting out of the way of the tidal wave that is going to happen here."

Reki chuckled at that. "I do think that would be smart," she mused. "We are still going to get wet, though. There's a lot of fluid in there."

"You're all talking cocoons," laughed Rakka. "I'm just interested in the person _inside_."

"We all are," said Kana, moving off to the side as the knocking sound got louder. "It is always exciting getting a new Feather."

She was quite right, Reki mused. She herself had cared for many a Haibane. The first one she'd cared for after birth was Kana...after she came back from the messes she'd involved herself in.

"Rakka, wait till the flood dies down before you get the blankets," said Reki in a low voice. "I also put some towels in the next room as well. Even wrapped in blankets she'll still get sick if she's dripping wet in weather like this. Kana, after she's out you go run and alert the others."

"Can do," said Kana, excited now as visible cracks appeared on the outer shell of the cocoon. A moment later, spurts of fluid.

Nobody could say anything else. The suspense was strong as they awaited the birth of the newborn Haibane.

* * *

Man this was tough...she felt so tired. 

It almost felt like she had a new body. It didn't feel quite as strong as what she seemed to feel was right. In fact it seemed, strangely enough, that it required pounding on this wall to gain strength, to get her blood moving, like a newborn butterfly or baby chick...but it was also wearing her out at a rapid pace.

But the wall was giving way.

A sudden rush of bubbles out of visible cracks told her she'd at last breached the wall. She also sensed a draining of the fluid that had kept her alive. It didn't matter anymore...she didn't think she required it.

She pushed on the wall harder, using about the last of her strength, and suddenly, with one great burst, it seemed to all give way...

* * *

"Stand back!" 

Reki ran to open the door just in time. She quickly yanked Kana and Rakka aside as the outer husk of the cocoon seemed to virtually explode, and the sudden rush of water nearly overwhelmed all of them.

She just caught a glimpse of a figure carried almost gently to the floor, borne on a wave of cocoon fluid, limp and still. For a moment she couldn't see anything else, because nearly a roomful of fluid had been pent up in that large cocoon and it had almost all broken free.

The open door, however, eased matters a little bit, and there was a floor drain in the hall. A few moments later, the flood in the room was only a couple centimeters deep, and she risked opening her eyes once more.

She could make out the figure on the floor better this time. She was coughing faintly and gasping for breath, nearly facedown in the remaining fluid, but otherwise limp.

Quickly Reki's instincts took over. She splashed across the room, kneeling in the fluid and turning the limp form upwards in her arms.

It was a teenage girl all right, although she appeared older than Rakka, was Reki's guess. She seemed a bit taller than Rakka had been, and she was pale, very pale. Her hair was very long, and its sopping wet strands wrapped around her thin body. It was getting dark and Reki could not tell for sure, but the soaking strands seemed to be a deep red color.

"Wow!" exclaimed Kana and Rakka at the same time, as they forgot about being wet and splashed across the room to join Reki.

"Is she all right, Reki?" asked Rakka anxiously, noting how still she was.

"She's just fine," smiled Reki, for some odd reason feeling a sense of accomplishment she hadn't felt in a while, a sense she got each time she first held a newborn Haibane. "She's just worn out."

The girl in her arms suddenly gave a very faint moan, her eyelids fluttering. Slowly they opened for the first time, and what she saw first was Reki's eyes.

Again it was getting too dark to tell exactly, but her eye color was darker compared to her too-pale skin. Reki guessed dark blue for the moment, although the thought was at the back of her mind.

The girl looked confused for a moment, then gave Reki an uncertain, faint smile. A shuddering breath ran through her thin frame, and she went limp once more.

"That was so cool," whispered Rakka, awed by what she'd seen today. "If I could have put words to that look, it was like she was saying she was glad to see you, Reki, even if she didn't know who you are."

Reki hid the bitterness that threatened to creep into the smile she returned Rakka as Kana bounded excitedly out the door, splashing as she went.

Reki fully expected to be forgotten one day, and like everything else, she expected this girl would forget this as well.

* * *

"Let's get her to that table I set up in the hall," said Reki. She carefully slid her arms under the new girl's back and behind her knees and, with just a little difficulty, managed to make it to her feet. 

Rakka blinked. "Wow, Reki, I didn't know you were that strong."

"Chasing after kids for so many years will do that to you," answered Reki. "Not to mention wayward Older Feathers?"

Rakka blushed and smiled a little guiltily as she followed Reki to the door. Once there she quickly darted past and into the next room, bringing forth the blankets and towels that had been stored there.

Very soon, with a little effort, the newborn Haibane was bundled carefully first in towels to absorb the moisture from her still-dripping body, and then in blankets to hopefully keep the chill of winter away from her long enough to get her across the courtyard. Reki just hoped the towels were enough to keep the blankets from getting wet, or all this would be useless.

"Lets get her out of here then," said Reki, carrying her carefully towards the exit. "The sooner she's safe in the Guest Room, the better."

Still, she paused for just a second at the open door of the newborn's Cocoon Room. Already a lot of the fluid had disappeared, although the cocoon was still leaking fluid onto the floor. The burst-open front revealed the inner walls of the cocoon, making it clear just how big it had been.

Rakka, too, stopped for a second. _So, that is the sort of thing I slept in for so long..._

Aware Reki had started walking once more, she quickly turned her attention back to reality and followed Reki out the door of the dilapatated North Wing.

* * *

It was bitterly cold. Reki felt the sting in her cheeks and hands, and it reminded her that on her last trip over here she'd not brought her coat. Her own clothing was still quite wet from the cocoon breaking open. With it this cold and carrying a wet new Haibane, she had to get her across the courtyard and into the west wing quickly. 

There was an eager pounding of feet, and not only did Kana and Hikari come bursting out, they were followed by a small crowd of little people.

"Can we see now?"

"We wanna see!"

"Let's look at her!"

"Yeah, C'mon!"

_Damn_, thought Reki. _Were they waiting to ambush us?_

"I told you guys not to crowd too close!" hollered Kana as she was overtaken by the crowd who rushed past her. "You want to trip Reki?"

Reki stopped and sighed as she was surrounded by little ones not even tall enough to reach her waist.

"Can we see now?" exclaimed a very little girl eagerly. "We've been waiting!"

"Yeah, let us see!" chorused the crowd.

Reki drew in a breath. "Not now, Hana," she said gently. "I need to put the new girl to bed."

"Can't it wait?" begged Hana.

"Do you want me to chase them off?" offered Kana, while Hikari shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

"No," said Reki before turning her attention back to the crowd.

"I must get the new girl to bed quickly," she told the crowd firmly. "She's still wet, and if she stays out here and I take the blankets off, she'll get very sick. Imagine how it would be if you were all wet and then had to come out here in this cold? You'd get really sick. How many of you here really want that for her, just because you could not wait?"

There was a flurry of subdued murmuring, and a flock of shamefaced looks. Hana looked stricken.

"I promise you'll all get to meet her after she grows her wings," said Reki, her voice gentle now.

"You promise?" demanded Hana. "We don't want her sick!"

There was a chorus of "No! Don't want her sick! No way!" in various voices, and Reki smiled to herself. Hana, for all she was a delicate little flower, was clearly a leader.

"I promise," vowed Reki with a smile.

"Yay!" crowed the little girl, a cheer taken up by the others.

"I'll get them back to the House Mother," said Kana, clearly amused. "They ran from her."

Raka grinned at her, not at all surprised. Obediently this time, the little Young Feathers stood aside and let her pass, Rakka and Hikari on her heels.

"Whew!" said Hikari as the door closed. "That was fun! Soooo..." she trailed off excitedly. "You're gonna let _me_ see at least, right?"

"When we get to the guest room," answered Reki, suppressing a laugh this time. Rakka wasn't quite willing to do so, and laughed audiably.

"I'm just excited," Hikari made excuse, her cheeks going pink. "I wish I had been there."

"You were there for Rakka's hatching, and got soaked from head to foot," Reki reminded her.

"You don't look so dry now," Hikari remarked in her turn.

Both were clearly teasing each other, but Rakka decided to change the subject before it got bad. "How long will she sleep, Reki?"

"Can't say for certain," answered Reki as they finally reached the door of the guest room. Hikari quickly opened it, revealing the large, bright, and airy room they all loved so much. " But at least the rest of tonight, and maybe part of tomorrow. You slept about that long."

Rakka suddenly remembered Kuu's first words to her. _"You've been sleeping for a whole day! It was amazing!" _and realized this was probably true then.

Nemu came out of the adjacent kitchen the instant they entered the room.

"Good, you're here safely!" she said, visibly relieved. "I'm glad. I was worried. It is so cold out."

"I think she'll be just fine," answered Reki, making it to the bed and settling the newborn down on it carefully. Just in time. Her arms had begun to ache.

Nemu began to carefully remove the blankets from the still figure, for the first time getting a look at her.

"Well," she said, visibly pleased by what she saw. "That is good. Another Older Feather."

She unwrapped the towel that had been draped over the girl's head and shoulders, letting the tumbling mass of hair loose. The towel had absorbed most of the moisture, and in the bright room the color became evident.

"That is certainly a deep red color," remarked Nemu. "Long, too. Or maybe it just looks darker because she's so pale?"

"She looks _too_ pale," fretted Hikari. "She's thin, too. Is she sick, Reki?"

"She made it out of her cocoon on her own, so that is a good sign," answered Reki. "If she was that way where she came from before...well, maybe good food and fresh air is all she needs. She is not so thin it is a real worry. She's probably just slender. We don't know just yet."

Her eyes met Nemu's momentarily, and both knew they were remembering the same thing: Kuramori and her delicate health.

Nemu finished unwrapping the towels from the slender body. The white robe the girl wore was also drying swiftly, and beginning to roughen a little, typical of its nature.

Reki came over to carefully help her turn the girl over onto her stomach, to avoid bruising the wings that were surely already growing in earnest underneath the girl's skin. Reki lifted the heavy mass of hair and eased it aside, exposing the girl's slender back.

The drying material had formed an opening, and drying strips had seemed to form and come loose at one end along the open seam. Rakka blinked in surprise as Reki reached over and momentarily opened the seam, exposing the back for a moment. The pale skin was just starting to darken with evidence of growing wings.

Satisfied, Reki closed the opening and pulled on the strips, tying them together to hold the robe shut in the back.

"Uh...do they all do that, Reki?" asked Rakka, puzzled.

"Yes," answered Reki. "These robes always seem to dry like this. It is a blessing in disguise, really. It makes it easier to attend the newborn when she grows her wings. Remember?"

Rakka chuckled softly. "Yes, I remember that. You took care of me, Reki. How could I forget that?"

Nemu came in with a clean, dry blanket and laid it over the still form. "Someone should be here at all times," she commented. "She'll be very confused when she wakes up."

"Yes, we should not all babble at once the way we did when Rakka was born," smirked Reki. Rakka just laughed.

Hikari laughed as well, but her cheeks also went pink. "Well, we'd not had a new cocoon in two years, since Kuu had been born along with the two other Young Feathers," she made excuse. "We just got too excited."

"You can say that again," said Reki, amused. "I'll make sure her entry into this world is as smooth as I can manage. And since it is best she learns these things, Rakka is going to help me."

Rakka smiled shyly at that. Nemu nodded in agreement.

"That is a good idea," she said. "She might be pale but she doesn't really look sickly to me. She looks just fine otherwise. This should go smoothly enough."

"She's going to need clothes," pointed out Hikari. "She's taller than Rakka. Maybe even a little taller than me."

"That is true," mused Reki. Definetly older than Rakka at least. Maybe a couple years younger than herself and Nemu in terms of physical maturity.

"Well, I have that old dress that I got from the thrift shop last year," said Nemu. "It didn't fit me quite right and I was going to adjust it a bit, but maybe with a little seamwork I can get it ready for her tonight."

"The blue one?" asked Reki. "Nemu, that is a _summer_ dress. She'll freeze in that."

"It is all we can spare right now," answered Nemu. "You know none of us have large closetfuls of clothing the way humans have, and she's nobody's exact size. It can hold her till she makes her first trip to the thrift shop and can get outfitted in winter wear. She can also borrow a coat or something till then."

"True enough," answered Reki.

* * *

Rakka had agreed to sleep that night in the guest room so the girl would not be alone. She was not too bothered to stretch out in a pallet on the floor for one night. This room was always quite warm. 

She lay awake for a while, though, watching the still face as she slept on the edge of the bed. Rakka felt sympathetic--she had no idea what was going to happen to her when she woke up, or what she faced when her wings grew. Rakka herself could hardly remember the pain for some odd reason, but she did remember how she had screamed in agony. The next morning the worst of the pain had vanished from her memory; a blessing in disguise.

It still seemed strange to her, too, that she had appeared so soon after Rakka herself had been found and born...had it really been such a short time ago? Just a couple months. Rakka didn't know if she herself would be considered a newborn any longer.

_Please, don't be sin-bound_, she silently begged.

The next morning, Rakka had awoke and had barely put her pallet away when she heard a tiny knock on the door.

Creeping over silently, she opened it and looked down to see little Hana's face from behind a large boquet of flowers.

"These are for the new girl when she wakes up," said Hana spritely. "I grew them myself in the greenhouse. The House Lady said they were mine to do with as I chose!"

"Well thank you, Hana, that is so thoughtful. I'm sure she'll love them when she wakes up," smiled Rakka, taking the proffered flowers. They smelled sweet and she reflected for a moment that Hana really _would_ make a good florist, if she was still around then.

Truth be told, she had a sneaking feeling that Hana had snuck away from everyone else again and had found a handy excuse to appear at the Guest Room--and before Reki showed up, at that!

It was confirmed from the uncertainty that crossed her little face and that didn't escape Rakka's notice.

"You want to see, don't you?" she said knowingly, and Hana looked half eager, half ashamed.

Rakka smiled and held a finger to her lips. "You have to be absolutely quiet," she whispered. "And you can't tell Reki you broke your promise to her, and you can't tell the other Young Feathers."

"Cross my heart," swore Hana.

Rakka took her by the hand and led her into the room. Hana pulled her hand free and tiptoed rapidly towards the bed, gazing eagerly at the sleeping new girl.

"Was her cocoon really bigger than yours?" she whispered excitedly.

"Yes, I've been told," whispered Rakka back, having found a vase and placing the flowers inside.

"That is so cool!" whispered Hana. "I hope she's really nice!"

"I'm sure she will be," smiled Rakka. "Now come on. You've seen her and if Reki catches you...well, a good Haibane isn't supposed to break her promises is what she'll say to you. So don't tell you about your mischief."

Hana's eyes twinkled merrily. "I won't!"

* * *

A vague drifting sensation...nice and warm...was she dreaming again? 

Her hands were clenching on something soft anyways...slowly she opened her eyes. Whatever was soft was fluffy and white...clouds maybe?

She squeezed harder for a moment. No, it felt like a..._pillow?_

Her eyes snapped open wide this time, and she lifted her head, startled.

_Where was she?_

A large room was laid out before her eyes. It had a very homey feel, but she didn't recognize it at all. It was nice and bright in this room, comfortably warm. Large windows let in lots of light. She was in a large bed, sleeping on her stomach, and had no idea how she got there.

She made a move to sit up, feeling vaguely heavy in her limbs and a strange, aching sensation in her back.

Getting upright, the sensation didn't lessen. She could swear her back felt bruised or something. Her heavy mass of red curls, so long she could nearly sit on them, were weighing on her back and didn't help matters.

That didn't tell her anything about where she was.

She glanced downwards. Her white robe! It was the same one as in her dream...and in the world full of fluid...so maybe they had not been dreams? The fluid one at least, surely had not been. Some deep instinct told her that, although she wasn't totally sure how much of that she remembered.

She touched it. It was a bit rough now, not soft like before. She sighed softly.

Sudden soft footsteps alerted her, and suddenly a strange girl came out of a curtained-off area, carrying a bowl and pitcher in her arms.

"Oh, you're awake!" she said kindly. "You were sleeping so heavily I wasn't sure when you would awaken."

The girl just looked at her, not knowing what to say. She had no recollection of this other girl at all. She was very pretty, the girl decided, with long, silky dark hair, almond-shaped black eyes, and a gentle, but very solid and determined set to her features. However, there were two things about her that didn't seem quite right...wings...and a halo? Surely she was still dreaming then...people didn't have...

"I was just fixing lunch," the girl went on. "Sorry if we woke you."

"No, I'm okay," said the girl in a very soft voice, not knowing what else to say. "Um...where am I?"

* * *

"It is no surprise you're confused, don't worry," said Reki reassuringly, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. "You're in the guest room. We found your cocoon just a couple days ago, and just in time. You hatched yesterday." 

The girl's large eyes stared into hers, startled. Reki realized her guess had been right, her eyes were a very deep, dark shade of blue.

"Cocoon?" she repeated. "I don't understand..."

"It is hard to understand when you're a newborn," said the woman gently. "My name is Reki. You are a Haibane, and all Haibane hatch from large cocoons, filled with fluid."

The girl blinked. "Fluid! Yes...I remember a world of fluid, and knowing I had to leave it...and breaking the wall...yes." She stared at Reki. "You were there then too, right?"

Reki blinked. "Yes, I was."

The girl smiled, suddenly seeming relieved. "I'm glad. Your eyes. I remember your eyes. I saw them for just a few moments, but I remember them now."

Somewhere inside Reki's heart clenched.

"That is interesting," she remarked, not showing it. "Most don't remember so much about their hatching. But yes, I turned you over and you woke up for a few moments. That was yesterday. A newborn usually sleeps for about a day afterwards."

"And what is...Haibane?"

Reki grinned, and turned aside a moment. Her wings could be seen clearly now, and she fluttered them.

The girl gasped. "They are real?"

Reki nodded. "They are. Yours will grow as well, pretty soon."

"Ooooh, Reki, she's awake!"

They were interrupted by the door opening, and another girl, with funny messy hair but the same wings and halo, also entered the room.

"And that is Rakka," said Reki with a grin. "She is not very old herself."

"Is this building full of...Haibane?" asked the girl curiously as Rakka came over.

"Well, not exactly," answered Rakka. "There are only five of us Older Feathers, and you now make six. Any other Haibane you see in this building are young children, the Young Feathers." She bowed in greeting. "I'm happy to meet you. As Reki said, my name is Rakka."

"Um...pleased to meet you," said the girl uncertainly.

"I know this is all very confusing," said Reki gently. "But don't worry. Everything will make sense very soon, I promise."

"Was lunch about done?" asked Rakka. "The others were on their way up."

"Yes," answered Reki. "But it will be a bit of a wait, I think. We'll have some things to take care of first. Did you bring the Halo mold in last night?"

Rakka nodded.

"Go get it, please?"

Rakka darted back into the kitchen, where she'd hidden the mold carefully in a high place. She unwrapped it from its coverings gently, and hurried back into the main room, hearing a babble of excited voices as the others entered the room.

At Reki's warning look Kana, Hikari, and Nemu all fell silent as they approached the bed and girl with the long red hair sitting in it. Reki had seen the other girl shrink back a little bit, being in bed surrounded by so many strangers.

"Don't confuse her," warned Reki. She turned back to the girl in the bed. "These are the other Haibane. This is Hikari, Kana, and Nemu," she indicated each one in her turn.

"We're all excited to meet you," said Hikari.

"Yes, welcome to Old Home," said Nemu in her placid way.

Kana just grinned.

"All right then," Reki stood up and stretched a bit. Rakka saw her eye her lighter on the table, then turn away from it, much to Rakka's surprise. Reki always smoked.

Instead Reki grabbed a chair and sat in it backwards, leaning over the chair back in typical Reki fashion. Nobody was surprised when she did this.

"Okay, now that we are all here, can you tell us about your dream?" she asked.

The girl blinked. "My dream?"

"Did you have a dream while sleeping in the cocoon?" asked Rakka. Wordlessly the girl nodded.

"Then can you tell us what you saw in the dream?" said Reki. "You see, each of us are named after the dream we had in our cocoons. Rakka is named because she had a dream that she was falling from the sky. Kana dreamed she was drifting in a river like a fish, so her name means 'river fish'."

"I was surrounded by a light in my dream, a sparkling light," said Hikari. "That is why Hikari is my name."

"Nemu's a deep snoozer, and she dreamed she was sleeping on top of it," said Reki with a slightly wicked smirk in Nemu's direction. "So her name means 'sleep'."

"You're asking to have your britches kicked, aren't you?" snapped Nemu good-naturedly.

"So you can understand, then, why we wish to know your dream. It is a tradition." Reki pretended to ignore Nemu's threat.

"I see," said the girl softly. "Well..." her eyes closed a moment as she thought back.

"Blue."

"Blue?" repeated Reki, blinking.

"I was surrounded by blue, like an ocean, yet I wasn't wet. A deep turquoise blue. Only off in the far distance did it fade into a silvery color. I was suspended in it, floating."

Her dark blue eyes opened, stark against her pale face.

"Was there more?" Reki's mind was a bit troubled. If that was all, then it was a bad indication.

The girl nodded. "I heard a soft noise, and suddenly all these bright spheres came flying at me. When they came close, they suddenly slowed, and drifted by lazily. I could move in the blue, and drifted over. I could touch them. There were images inside. I could not make them out very clearly, but they seemed..._happy_."

Reki's eyes became deeply thoughtful. "Was there anything else?"

The girl nodded, and suddenly, she looked troubled.

"The bubbles changed. Suddenly some went by, and they were dark. I could not see the images inside them very well either. I touched one and felt sadness. I wished I had not touched any of them at all. And then--"

She paused, and began to tremble.

"Can you say it?" asked Reki gently. "Was it scary?"

"No, it is all right. I will tell you." The girl steadied herself. "One drifted by, larger than any of the rest. Much larger. It was also dark, darkest of all. I did not want to touch it, yet I did. The scene inside unfolded before my eyes, yet it was all in shadow. It was hard to make out much."

Her breath hitched for a moment. "I looked. I know I saw something, and it was horrible!"

"What did you see?" asked Reki gently.

Suddenly the girl trembled violently all over.

"I know I saw something but...I can't really remember," she whispered.

Reki felt her heart sink. _So, maybe she was sin-bound._

"All I remember is a single beam of brightness...a moonlit night. There was a rocky path, filled with small stones. Someone was there, I think. And I heard crying. Maybe two people crying. Then the scene was supposed to become clear but...I can't remember anything else, yet I know I saw something. It filled me with horror."

The girl did not seem to realize that tears had filled her eyes and were trickling down her cheeks.

"Sometimes cocoon dreams are a bit scary," said Nemu reassuringly. She gently reached over and handed the girl a handkerchief.

She did not see Reki's thunderstruck look that she swiftly pushed behind an impassive face.

The girl nodded, and got her bearings fast. "I'm sorry if I appear cowardly. All I know is that suddenly, the images were gone, and so were the spheres, and I was suspended once more in the turquoise as if nothing had happened. Then the dream ended."

It took all of Reki's self-control to not show the horror she felt. It was too much, almost, to know that even part of this girl's dream sounded so agonizingly like her own. She was surely already locked in sin, and was bound to suffer.

_Remember, you are stone. Figure out her name for now_.

She closed her black eyes in thought. "Blue," she mused. "You said you were surrounded by blue."

She opened her eyes and stared into the girl's dark blue ones. "I think _Aoi_ should be a suitable name for you then," she concluded. "We will call you Aoi."

* * *

The girl blinked. "Aoi?" 

"Yes, Aoi, meaning blue," answered Reki.

"But..." The girl paused, and her eyes closed. "Don't I...didn't I already have a...I don't think I remember my name!"

Her hands tightened visibly on the blanket covering her lap as she said this.

"Which is why you need one now, Aoi," Reki said with great calm. "Nobody here knows who you were before you ever arrived in the cocoon. Not even you. That is how it is with us."

"But...why?" Aoi asked, for the moment resigning herself to the new name. If she truly had no other...

"Nobody knows for sure," answered Reki. "And we all ask why at some point. It is unlikely that there is anybody in this world who can remember you any more, either, just as you cannot remember them. Your life now is here, with us, and whatever reasons we became Haibane."

Aoi stared at her for several long seconds, then nodded her head. "I cannot say I fully understand. Like you all I may end up asking why, but I will answer to Aoi."

And already she felt an ache deep inside her, a need to know why. If she could not find out, could she resign herself to a peaceful life here, among strangers?

"That is great!" Hikari smiled. "Your name is the first step. Rakka?"

Rakka gave Hikari a nervous look, but steadied herself.

"It will be okay," urged Hikari. "Just like I told you to do, Rakka..."

Rakka nodded, and stepped forward with something Aoi could not identify. It was round, a hole in the middle, and it had a handle.

Rakka held it flat, and flipped open the lid. There was a quick burst of steam, and a faint hissing noise.

She was holding it low enough so that Aoi could see into it. A glowing circle lay in the mold, quite obviously very hot.

Carefully Rakka picked up a pair of special tongs and reached into the mold with them. She picked up the glowing circle and held it aloft.

"Feather Aoi," she said, and was surprised her voice was so steady. "To help guide your future as a fellow Haibane, I give you this halo."

Aoi blinked in surprise as Rakka carefully reached over and held the halo a few centimeteres above her head, and let the tongs go.

To Aoi's shock, the halo gave a strange noise and hovered a little uneasily above her head, but did not fall and hit. Instead it stayed in place, wobbling a bit unevenly.

"Be careful," warned Reki, seeing that Aoi's arm jerk in a controlled impulse to touch it. "That halo is still hot."

"Ah...okay," answered Aoi uncertainly, for some moments not able to take her eyes off the shimmering halo above her head.

It wasn't just her. Everyone around her watched anxiously for several seconds as the halo wobbled a bit, and that peculiar noise continued before fading away. A moment later the halo seemed to settle into place.

Rakka breathed a deep sigh of relief. "It stuck. Thank goodness!"

"Should it not have?" asked Aoi uncertainly as Rakka closed the halo mold with a satisfied _click._

"Well...mine didn't want to at first," admitted Rakka, blushing. "They had to hold it in place with cardboard and wire for a day or so before it decided to. Yours seems to be behaving itself."

Aoi smiled at that. "I imagine you were a sight."

"I was, a bit," answered Rakka. "But in the end, it always sticks, so I've been told. I'm happy yours did without a fuss."

"Well," said Kana. "It seems to me there is little more to do here until Aoi grows her wings, so what say we eat?"

"We can if the food hasn't gone cold," answered Reki. "Aoi, I imagine you don't feel hungry yet, but you may have some tea if you like. I'd like to get some liquids into you before your fever sets in."

"Fever?" answered Aoi, thinking tea sounded very good right now.

"You will get a fever when your wings grow in," answered Reki. "But after your wings sprout, the fever will probably be gone by tomorrow morning."

She got up as she spoke, heading towards the teapot as everyone took this as their cue, also heading towards the table. Only Rakka breathed a private sigh of immense relief that she had done her duty successfully, and went to put away the halo mold.

"Wings..." Aoi repeated softly. "Is that why my back is sore?"

"Yes," answered Reki. "Your wings are under the skin, growing. It will happen probably tonight, or by early tomorrow at the latest."

Aoi decided not to ask if it would hurt. If they were _under_ her skin...

Reki, however, saw her overly-pale skin grow completely sheet-white. So, she realized without being told, something of what would happen.

She poured hot tea into the cup and brought it over to Aoi as everyone else settled in at the table.

"Don't worry," she advised. "All of us had to go through it. It will sting a bit when your wingtips break the skin, and you will run a high fever. But it soon fades."

She saw Aoi clamp her jaw shut, swallow, and nod, an accepting look coming into her eyes. "I understand," she said, very softly as she accepted the teacup. "I will not fear it, since you told me what will happen."

_I'm glad she's brave_, thought Reki to herself. _She'll have to be, in order to accept what she faces as a sin-bound Haibane._

"That is always best," answered Reki. "Not knowing is much harder to bear. Once everyone eats they will leave you alone. Rakka and I will be here with you as you grow your wings."

Aoi nodded, deciding, as she sipped her tea, to put the ache in her back from her mind long enough to understand more about where she was. Listening to chatter over lunch should tell her plenty.

* * *

She didn't have to just listen. The others were very kind and did their level best to include her in their conversations, just as if she already knew about the town she'd arrived in. For Aoi, she listened in fascination as she began to learn something of where she was. 

The town she was in was called Glie. It had several thousand other people, and was a self-sustaining city.

It had to be. It was surrounded by walls on all sides.

"But...um...wouldn't that get crowded?" asked Aoi uncertainly as Reki poured her a second cup of tea.

"There is plenty of room to move around," answered Kana. "One of these days I'll take you to the clock tower where I work. There is a fantastic view."

"You might as well begin to understand, Aoi, that Haibane are bound by certain rules, as well as the humans here," said Hikari kindly. She nodded upon seeing Aoi's blue eyes widen. "Yes, most in the city of Glie are human. They let us live in their town, and work. In return we are provided for what we truly need, so long as it is secondhand."

Aoi blinked. "You are not allowed to own anything new?"

"Our clothing and belongings are items the humans no longer need," explained Nemu. "Or items we make ourselves, such as wing covers. You are going to need a pair of those, too."

Aoi looked around the room. For everything being secondhand, she saw some very nice items. This room was so comfortable-looking.

"You should not feel too stifled. There are plenty of open areas," encouraged Rakka. "I'll show you the Hill of Winds, and the giant windmills. It is the perfect place to be on a sunny day."

She saw Aoi smile at that.

"Um...where is Glie located?" she asked. "What is outside the walls?"

There was a small pause.

"Nobody knows," answered Nemu.

Aoi sent her a confused look.

"You must never go near the walls, or touch them," Reki decided to put in this warning early. "Both humans and Haibane are forbidden to leave Glie. It is our most sacred law. Nobody comes in, or goes out, with the exception of one very isolated group of beings. You will learn about them later, I imagine. But I must press this upon you: _Never touch the walls_. It is not only forbidden, it is very dangerous."

Her voice was very serious, and everyone was staring at her.

"Reki, don't scare Aoi so early on," scolded Nemu gently. "I bet she is feeling overwhelmed by information already, on things she has not even seen."

"No," Aoi interrupted before Reki could reply. "Reki is quite right. And I want to know as much as I can. I won't forget." Her gaze slipped past Reki's, past all of them, as if she was seeing something off in the far distance. She did not know how to outright say she was looking inside herself. "If I have lost my past as you say I have, I can still somehow tell that I was never one to forget hardly anything."

Nobody really questioned this. It was true enough. A Haibane was stripped of their memories, past, and name while sleeping in the cocoon, but they usually rememebered practical matters about themselves. It should not be such a big surprise then that Aoi recalled this on her own.

* * *

Lunch was finished quickly. The ringing of bells seemed to alert everyone that they had other things to do. 

"We'll let Reki and Rakka take it from here, Aoi," said Nemu gently as everyone waved goodbye, reluctant to go. Aoi seemed a likable enough person to them.

"I understand," answered Aoi. "I will see you later then."

"Bye!" chorused Kana and Hikari, heading out the door. Only Nemu remained for just a second longer, and it was to shoot Reki a very telling look. Aoi did not understand why, or why Reki met that look with a very serene on in turn.

_Damn!_ thought Reki as Nemu left without another word. Nemu knew her well enough to understand that she feared Aoi was sin-bound. She might even suspect it herself if she truly understood the implications of Aoi's incomplete cocoon dream. Surely she'd cooperate with the matter of Aoi's wings.

Well, whatever Nemu thought, Reki told herself fiercely that she'd see to it Aoi lived as normal a life as possible while as a Haibane. If she, Reki, was bound to face darkness, it would not be before she had Aoi fully on her feet in order to face her own challenges. Maybe she'd even do a turn like Rakka and..._overcome it_...

For a moment bitter jealousy surged in Reki's throat and she forced it down. Had she truly wanted Rakka to continue suffering the sin-bound curse just for her? Just so that she, Reki, didn't have to suffer it alone? No! It was a horrid thought. _No!_ Rakka was where she should be, free.

And for now, Aoi certainly was under the same curse, and it meant that, until this new Haibane found her own salvation, there was still another then, wasn't it?

A single faint cry startled Reki out of her thoughts. She looked back to the bed. Aoi was breathing heavily and touching her shoulder, not able to fully hide the pain in her dark blue eyes. Rakka was already at her side.

"Reki?" she called uncertainly.

Swiftly Reki crossed the room.

"It is her wings growing more, Rakka. Here, Aoi, would you please lie back down?" Rakka watched as Reki gently eased Aoi's thin frame back down on the bed, lying on her stomach on the bed's edge.

"I'm going to open the back of your gown, Aoi, all right?" she said gently. Aoi nodded, and then her breath hitched again.

Very gently Reki lifted Aoi's heavy mass of red curls off to the side. Rakka watched carefully as Reki untied the laces in the back of Aoi's white robe and parted the opening in the back, revealing Aoi's slender shoulders, and the very large bruises that were now evident on them.

"Yes, they are growing very rapidly," Reki mused aloud. "Rakka, could you go get some ice?"

Rakka nodded at once and hurried off, remembering Reki doing this for her. Now it was her turn...

Rakka watched her run into the kitchen area.

"The ice will ease your discomfort," soothed Reki. "Are you in much pain?"

"It..." Aoi's breath hitched again. "It feels...more like a cramp."

Sweat broke out over her forehead, and Reki picked up a cool cloth, reached over and sponged it away.

"I understand. It won't be too long before they are ready and will break through your skin. It means I don't have much time to explain to you something I hope never again to have to explain to a newborn Haibane."

She sounded troubled, and Aoi's eyes opened to watch her warily.

"I'll tell you while I braid your hair," said Reki gently. "It is very long and will get messy when your wings break free from your back if I don't."

She reached for a hairbrush as she spoke.

"You have memories missing from your cocoon dream," she said softly.

Aoi nodded.

"And you have seen how everyone's wings are that light charcoal grey shade," she went on gently.

"Yes," Aoi rasped, her head beginning to feel hot. Reki stopped to sponge her forehead again.

Oh, how hard this was going to be on her, and on this newborn, to tell her what she must. It was worse, in a way--Aoi just didn't strike her as the kind to arrive here with some hidden sin in her soul.

"This town calls the Haibane blessed," said Reki. Rakka came in just then with the ice and a cloth bag, in time to hear this. Her face blanched as she realized what Reki was being forced to tell Aoi.

"Blessed..." Aoi repeated between muscle spasms in her back.

"Yes. They say this town exists for the Haibane," said Reki. "But there are some, Aoi, that cannot be blessed by the town. Their cocoon dreams are incomplete, and they are born with black on their wings. Such a Haibane is declared to be Sin-Bound. Most are afraid of and ostracize such an unblessed Haibane."

Aoi let out a faint cry over a real spasm of pain this time. "And you think..." she gasped heavily. "You believe that my wings will sprout like that, and that I am sin-bound?"

"I was guarding your cocoon when I heard you thrashing inside," said Reki softly, her fingers starting to weave the thick hair in her hands into a braid. "Your forgotten memories must be filled with horror. Though some say it isn't so, a winter-born Haibane does seem to be sin-bound more often. It is winter now. I was also born in winter, seven years ago."

She fluttered her wings, and Aoi looked at them. "Your wings look all right," she managed.

Reki's face tightened, and pain came into her eyes before she could fully hide them.

"I cannot recall my own cocoon dream," she whispered, nearly finished with Aoi's braid. "The bit about moonlight, and a pebble-laden path sound like my dream. I was walking down such a path. It was dark. The path was rocky and I was crying. I know something else happened, something horrible, but after that, I recall nothing."

"Your wings...?" Aoi gasped.

"My wings burst through my back, already marked with the curse of the sin-bound. I was lucky that the person who found me was so kind. There is a dye made from a tree that grows near the walls, the Elderly Tree. It can hide the blight of the sin-bound. When your wings come in, if necessary, I'll apply that dye. Nobody outside this room, with the exception of Nemu, ever need know the truth. Nemu is the only one here older than myself, and even she was afraid of me at first."

"But it's more than that!" cried Rakka. "Do you forget, Reki, that I too know the suffering that comes with the sin-bound curse? And my wings were grey when I was born!"

"You were born in late summer," said Reki, having tied Aoi's thick braid. Now her forehead was in her hands. "You became depressed when Kuu left, then your wings began to turn black a month later. You had a bird help you, to offer you forgiveness, that old Communicator was so _kind_ enough to prate at me. I was happy to realize that you no longer had to suffer. You're happy again. You were so depressed, and I was afraid for you."

Reki swiftly realized that her bitterness would show too much if she didn't control it_ now_. She choked back the rage that had swelled up in her. Happy, yes, she had been...but oh, how jealous as well! Rakka must never know that...

She'd never find her salvation.

"Whatever the case," said Reki, kindness back in her tones, "You won't easily have a chance to attain your salvation, Aoi, if you can't go about a normal life. I want that for you. I will dye your wings once they are cleaned, and show you how to create the medicine necessary to keep them covered. Try to live your life as a good Haibane. You might find what you lost, and escape the curse."

Aoi's hands tightened on her pillow as she digested all that was told her. Reki was doing this to be kind. Aoi wasn't sure why she was sin-bound, much less herself.

She could think it out fully when she wasn't in so much pain. The cramps in her back were getting worse, and it wasn't even evening yet.

Rakka, however, had grown steadily more distressed as Reki had spoken. She too understood why Aoi had to be told, but it brought back painful memories. She just could not stop the tears swelling in her eyes. She dropped the cloth bag of ice she'd been holding, forgotten, in her hands. They went to cover her face instead, as she stood there, her shoulders shaking.

She was only slightly startled when she felt Reki's arms go around her comfortingly. No. She _shouldn't cry_! Reki had suffered so much for her, and here she was again, holding her and comforting her. No. She had to get ahold of herself. Surely, somehow, Reki's curse could be lifted. Washi had told her that Reki didn't have much time left, but...

With a start Rakka realized something. Reki's halo! Since finding Aoi's cocoon Reki's halo had entirely ceased blinking on and off as it had been. Why was that?

"I'm okay, Reki," she murmured, trying to wiggle out of Reki's embrace. It was Reki who needed the comfort, she thought, not her.

"That is good, I'm glad," answered Reki evenly, and Rakka, drying her own eyes, was even more keenly aware of the pain Reki was hiding so well. No. Her turn to help Reki would come.

"I am sorry..." Aoi gasped. "I am sorry it causes you both so much pain."

"We're all right," answered Reki, picking up the bag Rakka had dropped and bringing it over to the bed. "I will deal with my eventual fate, when it comes."

"If this is my fate..." Aoi breathed, and her fingers gripped the pillow again in determination as she forced herself to face reality, "Then I will do so. I will accept the dye, but only as a necessity. If it is possible to be free of the curse, then I will work towards it."

Reki could barely contain her relief on hearing this. Aoi was much stronger than she had given her credit for. She hadn't screamed, or cried in fright, or denied it vhemently. To be realistic enough to want to change her fate was a very positive sign.

"I'm happy to hear that," smiled Rakka, although her eyes were still teary.

Aoi gasped again and buried her face in the pillow. Quickly Reki applied the ice to Aoi's back.

"This is happening even faster with you than with Rakka," she said, a bit anxiously. "The others I've cared for were so slow."

"When it happens, I will face it," rasped Aoi.

"Is the ice helping?" asked Rakka, wringing out Aoi's forehead cloth in the cool basin water she'd brought.

"A little..." rasped Aoi. Concerned, Reki reached over and felt her forehead.

"Her fever is rising swiftly," she murmured. She took a few ice pieces and added them to the basin water, and swirled the cloth in it again before sponging off Aoi's forehead once more.

"It won't be long now, will it?" asked Rakka, realizing the lumps on Aoi's small back had swelled within a very short time.

"No, it will not," answered Reki.

Aoi's faint, but heavily labored, breathing became more evident. Time passed swiftly, and in the middle of the afternoon, her fever hit a sharp spike.

Reki applied the cloth again.

"Hold on tight, Aoi," she advised gently. "It should not be too much longer now."

"I...see..." Reki saw her lips move, but really heard nothing. Her whole thin body, wracked with fever, had gone from too pale to an angry shade of red.

Rakka reached over and took her scorching-hot hand uncertainly, sensing it would be a nice thing to do but having to fight to not show her pain when Aoi clenched it hard over each cramping pain.

Aoi gave a faint gasp of pain over the most recent contraction, then turned, burying her face in the pillow she lay on. She held it there for several seconds before lifting her head. A strange look was in her eyes, and for a moment Reki was momentarily frightened. That didn't seem to be a coherent look.

"Aoi? What is it?"

"I...just wonder...about the family I left behind..." Aoi rasped softly. "But...even if I am...sin-bound...should I be...I have another reason...don't I? Maybe another reason...to be born like this..."

"Is it her fever, Reki?" Rakka was worried by this talk, and yet, hadn't she thought a lot herself about why she was here? Didn't she still?

"No..." rasped Aoi. "I think...there is...some other reason...I feel it..."

"We can't say for sure," said Reki, speaking to both at once. "Since nobody remembers anything...it is painful not always finding the answers we seek..."

Aoi gave a small, sharp cry and buried her face in the pillow once more. Her gown, which lay wide open in the back, revealed her fever-red shoulders and the trickle of very red liquid that was suddenly slipping down one shoulderblade. A visible wingtip had broken the skin.

"Reki! It's started!"

Reki turned and ran for the first-aid kit. She had thoughts of binding her thumb again like before, but she might not even have enough time to do this.

She didn't fall this time, and came running back at another faint cry from Aoi as a second bloody wingtip broke through her skin.

_Pain._ It was worse than anything Aoi figured she had ever known, in this life or her last one. The skin on her back was ripping, widening, and overwhelming muscle spasms were trying to push..._something_...through her skin, some foriegn thing that wasn't a part of her body...but ripping the skin ever wider to break out...

"Don't damage your hand again, Reki!" hissed Rakka, sensing what was on Reki's mind. "I don't think she will take it! And there isn't time!"

And there wasn't. Rakka ran around to the other side of the bed, climbing in beside Aoi, so she could hold her other hand and yet leave Reki room enough to move in. Aoi took her hand gratefully, and Rakka hid her pain from having her hand forcefully squeezed.

Reki smiled faintly, then sponged off Aoi's forehead a last time. No, Aoi would probably not bite her tongue. She wasn't even screaming, or crying that it hurt.

Aoi's eyes opened wide, though, in intense pain and amazement as she felt wild pulses begin forcing...something out of her back. This pain was the worst yet, and she wanted to pass out...but no. She had to hold on...

Her pain-glassed eyes met Reki's black ones as Aoi gave a stifled gasp, and with that gasp suddenly, but steadily, blood trickled down her back and her wings began to slide out, rising steadily from her body.

Larger and larger they emerged, ripping the skin wider as they went, and this brought Aoi even more pain.

Her only sounds were faint gasps as they rose. The wings, partially free, began to expand immediately upon sliding free, and suddenly the very bottoms of the wings burst out. In a virtual explosion of blood, her wings arched forth, and fully extended from her body, sending sprays of blood in several directions.

The moment her wings burst from her back, Aoi's eyes went wide once more with a final spasm of pain, but at that moment, there was no sound at all. Not a scream, not a gasp. Nothing.

A blankness slid over her eyes instead, and she went limp, into a total faint.

* * *

For several seconds, total silence reigned in the room. It was like some lingering spell. Reki sat very still, startled by the myriad emotions she'd seen in Aoi's eyes...ones she could not name...just before they had glassed over and she'd passed out. 

It was a pair of violently twitching, bloody wings that made both her and Rakka come back to attention. Reki's first thought was to check Aoi's wings, to see how bad the black spots were.

As gently as she could, she took hold of a twitching wing to examine it.

Her breath caught, and she swore she felt her heart stop in her throat.

No black spots were evident.

She carefully examined every feather of the wing, then took hold of the twitching other wing and stretched it out, looking.

_Aoi wasn't sin-bound_.

* * *

Rakka also had to examine the wings for herself. She, too, saw no spots showing through the blood and grease the wings were soaked with, while below them both, Aoi lay completely oblivious, in the welcome relief of darkness. 

"Oh, Reki! She isn't sin-bound! We won't have to dye her wings!" Rakka was so relieved to realize this she was trembling a bit.

Reki released the wing she'd been examining and gave Rakka a small smile. "No. We will not. Not at the moment."

She didn't let on to Rakka how her insides were twisting. She'd convinced herself that Aoi was sin-bound and doomed from the start, and that she'd have to step in this one last time and set her on the right track before her own darkness called to take her with it. The uneasily twitching wings in front of her told her otherwise.

_Just what were you hoping for, Reki? Aoi doesn't __**deserve**__ to be sin-bound. It should be the biggest relief to you that she isn't cursed as you are._

"I'm so glad!" exclaimed Rakka, moving to climb off the bed.

"Yes, Aoi should not have to worry right now," said Reki in a gentle, even voice that completely hid her emotions.

Rakka paused. "But...her dream...it is still not complete," she said worriedly.

"Yes," answered Reki.

"Doesn't that mean she could still..." Rakka began, looking troubled all over again.

"I don't know. It is possible. It happened to you, didn't it?" answered Reki. "We can only pray that she avoids such a fate. But for now, she is all right. I'm happy for her. I just hope that when she wakes up and knows she's not an unblessed Haibane, she will not be angry at us for making her think she was..."

If she did, Aoi would never trust her again, or Rakka. And it still did seem to be true that she could find herself trapped, and face that old man lecturing her on that stupid "Circle of Sin" riddle.

"I don't think so," Rakka's answer surprised Reki. "She seemed to accept what she might be." She reached down and touched Aoi's long braid, holding back only at the last moment, mindful of her bloody hands.

"Reki, I remember how terrified I was when my wings began to turn black. I didn't know what was happening. I cut my feathers. I wanted to disappear permanently. You came and took care of me again. I'll never forget that. You told me what to expect and kept me from disappearing again. I clung to that somehow. Aoi here was so determined to overcome it. She seems the type who'd be grateful you tried to prepare her, instead of leaving her to drown in her pain blindly."

Reki stared at her, then turned her head aside fast. She had to. She couldn't show Rakka she had felt tears stinging her eyes. Tears she didn't want to feel.

"I hope you are right," she said. She hid her tears, and blinked them back, but her voice sounded extremely vulnerable at that moment. Rakka did not miss this.

"Come on, Reki," she said gently. "Let's clean her wings before they stain."

Reki's eyes were tearless when she looked back at Rakka. She just nodded, and arose from her chair to go collect the bowl of water and brush she'd use to rinse Aoi's wings free of blood.

She came back a moment later to find Rakka already gently sponging Aoi's back free of the blood that had coursed down them. There were fresh bloodstains on the carpet surrounding the bed, and the damp spots on her red winter dress told Reki that her clothes had been hit by blood as well.

"Rakka, when you go finish there, you might want to run and change your dress, and set it in cold water before those stains become permanent," she advised. "Go put on your _seifuku_ for now. This room is warm enough."

Rakka nodded. "I'll come back and help you finish cleaning her wings. You told me this takes time and I should learn how."

"It is simple enough, just intensive," answered Reki. "I'll still have plenty to do when you get back."

Rakka nodded her head. "All right."

* * *

Reki, meanwhile, set the bowl of water up in front of her, on the nightstand. She dipped the brush in the water and carefully caught a twitching, bloody wing, holding it still. Very carefully, she began to brush the wings, using the water to make them clean. 

She paused after a moment, though, concerned by how hard and ragged Aoi was breathing, even unconscious. She _did_ have a rather frail appearance.

Reki's concern, though, eased a bit when she reached over and touched Aoi's hot forehead again. She was probably breathing heavily more because of the high fever than anything.

Laying that worry aside, she went on cleaning the wing she had started on.

It took her some time to even make a dent in all the blood and grease that soaked the feathers through. When Rakka came hurrying back inside the room, clad in her sailor dress, Reki was only just starting to get to the true color of Aoi's left wing.

"Wow, it really does take a long time," Rakka marveled, watching Reki.

"Yes," answered Reki. "Would you mind sponging off her back a little more? It is still oozing a bit of blood here and there. It should stop very soon though."

"All right," Rakka answered, going to obey her. The sound of the brush followed her into the kitchen as she went for a new, clean cloth. The other was beyond use.

Reki continued to brush the wings, when she suddenly saw something that made her heart contract. Her hand trembled and she stopped brushing the wing.

Quickly she looked at the window. The sun was streaming in full force, going down the western horizon. The room was very bright.

She looked at the wing again, and wondered if she could handle this. Surely she couldn't..."Rakka, come here."

Rakka was just returning with the cloth. "Reki, what's wrong?"

"Rakka, loan me a feather, would you?" asked Reki.

"Huh? Why?" asked Rakka, although she was already obeying.

"I need to make sure of something," Reki answered. With a small grimace of discomfort, Rakka pulled a feather free and handed it to her.

She held the gray feather against the small part of Aoi's wing that she had managed to clean. "Can you see a difference?" she asked quietly. "This is to make sure my eyes aren't decieving me."

Rakka, puzzled, bent in close, then drew in a sharp breath.

Rakka's feather was that light charcoal gray. The feathers showing under Aoi's blood were lighter in contrast.

They weren't gray.

They were _white.

* * *

_

"You were not seeing things, Reki..." Rakka whispered. She trembled. "Her wings look white."

"I...I don't know what to make of this." Reki took a shuddering breath, feeling like a knife had twisted the heart she had worked so hard to turn to stone. Automatically she began cleaning the wings once more.

"I thought she wasn't sin-bound!" whispered Rakka, starting to sponge Aoi's back. "Her wings are still different!"

"They aren't _black,_ though," answered Reki. The clean area on Aoi's wing was larger now and there was no mistake about it: The feathers were white.

"If black is sin-bound, what about white, then?" inquired Rakka.

"I don't know. I've never heard of it," answered Reki. The strange, oddly fathomless look she'd seen in Aoi's eyes just before she fainted came back to her, and she felt and odd, cold frission run down her spine.

"Surely if those born sin-bound happen from time to time, so do those with white wings," said Rakka. Washi had never mentioned this to her, either.

"I just don't know on this," answered Reki. "I don't have answers for this, nor do I know how the others will take it. I can't use the dye on these wings. They are for black feathers, not white ones. It won't make any difference here. Nemu might accuse me of overdoing it and bleaching her wings or something."

"I'll tell her you didn't," assured Rakka. "We have to find out what it means."

"There's no help for it," answered Reki, forcing her pain down and her pounding heart to ease. "I dont want to, but I'll ask the Renmei."

"Maybe white won't be so bad," Rakka offered optimistically.

"I don't know how the town will react to it, no," answered Reki. "If there isn't a dye availible to change her wing color to gray, then there is no other choice but for her to bear it."

Rakka swallowed back any further words. She could only hold on to her optimisim. White was the opposite of black. Maybe it wasn't as terrible.

Reki just kept brushing the wing, and rinsing the blood off in the bowl. These white wings were such a stark contrast to the black spots on hers. Was fate mocking her? One last laugh at her before her darkness engulfed her? How could she _bear_ this latest insult tossed at her?

It was the worst bitter bile she was sure she could not accept in the end.

Her black eyes drifted to Aoi's still, fever-red face, and instantly she felt contrite for her thoughts.

Aoi hadn't done anything to deserve having her wings different, now had she? Yet the color stamped her different even as Reki's own black spots did. It didn't matter how the townspeople reacted in the end. Every time Aoi looked in the mirror, she would know she wasn't like the others, and it would set her apart.

The thought calmed Reki's pounding heart, and suddenly she could breathe easily once more. She'd not let herself hate Aoi, and worsen her own sin. And she hoped that in the end, she would cease feeling jealous, because Aoi was still as different from the others as she was.

She stopped and reached over, touching Aoi's fever-hot forehead. Whatever it was, however frail Aoi looked, she seemed strong. She'd bear it, just like Reki had to.

Reki held onto the comforting thought as she cleaned off all the blood on the wing, so it glimmered faintly in the light.

* * *

Midpoint through the intense cleaning, Aoi found herself dragged painfully back to consciousness. 

Her back and sides were on fire. She could feel a foriegn twitching shooting through there as well. Dimly, she realized it had to be her wings.

Reki heard a faint moan, and Aoi's fever-bright eyes slowly opened.

"Mmn...Reki? Rakka?" she asked weakly.

"We're here," answered Reki gently. "We're just cleaning your wings."

"My wings...?"

"Yes," answered Reki. "They came out just fine, if you can't remember."

"I...I do..." she said softly. Even with her fever, the memories of today came back to her, crystal clear. "Are...are they...did you already?..."

Reki smiled a gentle smile at her. "You should be glad to know there was no black on your wings," she said encouragingly.

"No black?..." Aoi tried to follow this. "Does that mean...I'm not...sin-bound?"

"It is a good sign so far," answered Reki. "I do hope you forgive me if I scared you too badly telling you about unblessed Haibane. I wanted to prepare you, but I might have overdone it."

Aoi blinked, and smiled at her faintly. "No. I understand. You wanted to protect me."

On the other side of them both, Rakka sighed with relief. Aoi wasn't angry.

"There are still issues," contined Reki, comforted by the understanding look in Aoi's blue eyes. "You still have an incomplete cocoon dream, like Rakka did."

Aoi paused. "I remember...what she said," she murmured. "So I could still..."

"I don't know what is going on at the moment," answered Reki. "It may be possible, or it may not be. Your wings don't have black, but they are still a little unusual, Aoi. They aren't grey, they are white."

"_White?" _Aoi's eyes widened. "My wings are white? What does white mean?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," answered Reki. "Neither does Rakka, and she works at the Haibane Renmei temple."

"White..." Aoi struggled to accept this latest bit of information...she was so tired it was difficult to do. "If black is so bad, what about Haibane then with white wings?"

"It hasn't happened in my time here," answered Reki. "I cannot say how you will be recieved by the townspeople. But don't worry about it until we know what the Renmei tells us, all right?"

"It still means...I am different, right?" Aoi said slowly.

Reki nodded her head yes.

"Don't worry about anything more right now," she advised. "Just think about yourself and your health. Your fever is too high for you to be doing any worrying."

"Aoi," Rakka cut in, coming into Aoi's view, "Whatever the others think, I believe in you. I won't let you stand alone. So don't worry, okay?" She smiled brightly, optimistically.

Reki blinked, and took a deep breath upon hearing this. "And neither will I," she promised. If Aoi was fated to suffer, even with white wings, she could not let her do so alone. Maybe...just _maybe_...she had a steadying hand in her darkness after all.

She could not rely on it until she knew what the Renmei had to say on the matter of white wings.

Whatever the case, she'd still try, one last time, to be a good Haibane, like Kuramori. No bet, like with Rakka. She'd do this just because it needed to be done.

Aoi's eyes shone brightly. "Then I will not worry," she whispered. "I cannot worry, if I'm surrounded by friends like you."

Reki gave her another serene smile. "We'll take care of you, I promise," she assured Aoi. "Now go back to sleep. When you wake back up, you should be a new person."

Aoi smiled faintly, and her eyes drifted shut.

She slept soundly all the rest of the afternoon, and all that night, her body taking the time to begin healing.

* * *

Dawn was just streaking the skies over Glie when Aoi awoke. Surprised, she lifted her head and looked around. 

Reki was still in her chair beside her, sitting leaning over the back of it. Her arms had crossed over the top of the chair, and she'd fallen asleep that way.

_Did she watch over me the whole night? _Strangely touched, Aoi got up on her elbows, suppressing a sharp hiss as dull pain shot through her body.

She looked over on her right. Rakka had obviously fallen asleep on the other edge of the bed. From the way she slept Aoi figured she probably had not meant to fall asleep there but tiredness had overcome her at some point. She wasn't wearing her red dress, either. She was wearing a _seifuku._

Aoi found she felt extremely light. Her body no longer felt hot.

"And just like magic, you are fine," said Reki's voice, causing Aoi to look back at her and smile.

"How do you feel?" Reki asked when Aoi smiled at her.

"I feel much better, like I could fly," Aoi answered. It was true. While she knew she had suffered terrible pain the day before, it was like a distant memory now. She still hurt but it wasn't like having your skin ripped open.

"Well, your wings won't do that, I'm afraid," answered Rakka, waking up herself. "They aren't big enough."

Aoi laughed softly. "Well, I feel very light," she admitted. "Is it okay to get up? I would like to move around."

Reki grinned. "I think you are safe now," she assured her. "Rakka didn't want to stay in bed either the morning after her wings grew."

She stood up, stretching a moment, and feeling vaguely crampy from her odd chair-sleeping position. Aoi managed to sit up and made sure her robe was back on her shoulders where it belonged. She was surprised to find generous amounts of gauze wrapped and taped around her upper body.

"I had to bind your upper body with gauze," said Reki. "Although you didn't awaken. Your back was still bleeding a little bit. You should have scabs by now, and can remove the gauze when you go clean up."

Aoi nodded, letting Reki reach under her braid to carefully tie the strings in back, holding the gown in place. "For now, let's get you on your feet."

She took Aoi's pale hand, and Rakka came over to take her other one. Carefully, unsteadily, Aoi rose to her feet.

Reki had been right in her guess. She was taller than Rakka, and just a shade taller than Hikari. Certainly physically she was older than Rakka. She was at least as old as Kana, if not slightly older. It was hard to tell exactly for sure. Too early for that. Maybe only a couple years at most younger than Nemu and herself.

Reki let go of her hand and stepped back to get a good look at her. In the early-morning dawn, Aoi stood tall, pale, her eyes a dark blue in her face, and her wings gleamed in the light.

Yes. A newborn Haibane, on her feet and ready to go, which was as it should be.

Almost immediately there was a gentle knock on the door.

"It's Nemu," said the voice from beyond. "I've brought the dress for Aoi, Reki."

Reki took a steadying breath. _Here we go_.

"Come in," she called. Rakka reached over and squeezed Aoi's hand reassuringly.

The door opened, and Nemu came into the room, holding an item of clothing in her hands, and simple indoor sandals on top of those.

"Good, you are up, Aoi," she said cheerfully. "I hope these clothes fit you. It is all we can spare until we can get you to the thrift shop, you understand."

"I understand," Aoi said. Yes. She'd be grateful for whatever they could spare right now.

"This is rather a summer dress, so we definetly have to get you winterwear," Nemu went on, looking directly at Aoi. She suddenly stopped and came closer.

"Oh my," she whispered, making it crystal clear she had noticed Aoi's wings. Her normally sleepy look was gone for the moment, and she was wide-eyed with surprise. Slowly she came over and walked around Aoi, not able to believe her eyes.

"Reki, I know you brought in dye and don't deny it," she said accusingly. "Did you overdo it and _bleach_ this poor girl's wings?"

"No," answered Reki calmly. "I didn't have to use it. She had no black spots as I feared."

"I was afraid of it too, a little bit," admitted Nemu. "Are you telling me her wings grew this way?"

Aoi, white with fear, just nodded before Reki could reply.

Nemu was silent for several seconds before reaching over and touching Aoi's damp feathers.

"Well..." she mused. "Beings as your cocoon dream is not complete, it must still mean something. We'll have to ask the Renmei. But otherwise..." she drew back and looked Aoi over. "I don't think you look so bad, myself. They're kind of pretty."

Reki tried not to scowl. "You were afraid of _me_, you know."

"Who hasn't heard tales then of those born with black wings? I learned to look past that foolish nonsense and be friends with _Reki_, not the Girl With The Black Wings," said Nemu impatiently.

"I worry about how the townspeople will react to her," fretted Reki. "I know of no way to make white wings gray."

"I can't say for sure either," answered Nemu. "Maybe it won't be so bad. They will stare, but Aoi, your wings are white, not black, so it might not leave the same impression. Only time will tell."

"Come what may, I'll face it when it happens," Aoi said softly.

Nemu smiled and handed her the clothing. "Here. Go and clean up, then put this on and see if it fits. If you are up to it, maybe we can arrange for some of us to take you to town today as well. The Renmei will eventually summon you anyways, and you can't go in that white robe."

"All this talk of the Renmei, yet none of you have told me who they are," Aoi remarked, accepting the clothing bundle.

"I see we haven't," laughed Rakka, relieved at Nemu's acceptance of Aoi. "We'll tell you when you come back."

* * *

Aoi walked, unsteadily at first, to the bathroom also attached to another part of this large room. Inside, she carefully removed her newborn's robe, the gauze bandages, and unbraided her long hair. 

She felt she didn't feel much emotionally at the moment, except gratitude that Nemu had not seen fit to turn away from her.

There were cleaning supplies in here, and with some difficulty, due to soreness, she managed to clean her body.

Finally, she reached for the dress and the sandals. She slipped the latter on, and wondered how Nemu had managed to produce a fitting pair when surely she hadn't had a good look at her feet.

Aoi then held out the dress. A soft blue, it had long sleeves but a fairly wide neck, and was made of thin material. Thin white lace adorned the collar, cuffs, and around the hem. A slightly darker blue band was meant to go around the waist.

Aoi turned it over. In the back were two slits, presumably for her wings.

The wings on her own back twitched, for they seemed to have minds of their own. Aoi wasn't sure how to make them behave, but obviously the others did. It was probably something that happened over time.

Carefully, painfully she pulled the dress over her head and struggled for a moment. The halo bobbing on her head didn't help matters.

Finally, after several seconds, she managed to make her head pop up where it should be. Maybe it was just pure luck, but with a little force she managed to make her wings burst through the slits a moment later as well, ignoring the pain as best she could.

"There," she whispered. Opening her eyes, she noticed the mirror.

She'd taken great care to avoid looking into it before now, for reasons she could not explain.

Now, however, she looked, turning to the side so she got a good look at the white wings glimmering faintly on her back.

Surely they didn't look so bad. The difference was not too stark between her and the other Haibane until you got closer, while she imagined black on those wings could be spotted from a long distance away.

Her eyes strayed to the rest of her. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to see. How could she when she couldn't remember her former life?

Still, as she stared at her own dark blue eyes and dark red hair, she had an odd feeling that it was fine; she was supposed to be this way.

She was a bit askance at noticing how pale she was, and her slender build made her look positively frail. She had no idea how strong she really was but wasn't too sure she liked how it would probably make people think she was of delicate health...unless she truly was and didn't know it yet.

Other than that, her features seemed normal enough. There was nothing odd or strange about her face or form that she could discern.

Above all of it, her halo glowed brightly above her head. Aoi had no idea of what strange force held it there, not falling and yet not moving away either.

Her red curls swung loosely about her, more in the way than anything. Aoi picked up a brush she found, and the red tie that had held her braid together before. Slowly she began to work the brush through the mass, smoothing out lingering tangles. To braid it behind her back would be a torture she didn't care to face, so she pulled it all to the side and braided it over her left shoulder instead.

"Reki, time to keep your promise!"

A sudden chorus of little voices made Aoi stop in surprise, just as she finished braiding her hair. _Children?_

Of course, hadn't she heard mention of Young Feathers?

She heard laughter and a scampering of little feet, and Reki scolding gently about opening the door without permission.

"We wanna see her now," came a tiny, female voice, followed by a boy's voice.

"Hana's right! Is she up yet?"

"She'll be out in a minute, Shorta. She's dressing."

_Are they that eager to see a new girl? _Aoi thought absently. Strangely she wasn't nervous about meeting little ones, but--and again she could not explain how she knew--children were usually far less judgemental than adults.

Aoi tiptoed out of the bathroom and peeked around the corner that led into the guest room. Two children were merrily running races around a rather exasperated Reki. Both sported small wings, and halos above their heads.

It was a cute sight, enough for Aoi to chuckle to herself.

The little girl looked over at her, and skidded to a halt. Suddenly very shy, she held on to Reki's skirt.

It made Reki notice and look up. "Hey," she smiled. "Does it fit?"

"It seems to fit well enough," Aoi answered softly, stepping fully into view.

Reki smiled at her. "That's good. It is something to wear anyways."

"She's gonna freeze in that," piped up the little boy, watching Aoi with surprised eyes. "How come girls sometimes like to wear dresses instead of pants? My legs would be icicles!"

"It is a girl thing, Shorta," answered Reki, clearly amused.

"Dai's gonna be jealous!" crowed Shorta, changing the subject fast in his typical fashion. "He's still stuck at Abandoned Factory! We got to see the new girl first!"

Aoi smiled to herself. She walked over, spying a tiny face peeping from behind Reki's skirt. It was tpyical of Hana to be bold one minute and super shy the next.

She bent down so she was nearly at eye level with the timid brown eyes that threatened to duck back behind Reki's skirt at any moment.

"Hi there," she smiled.

The friendly voice drew Hana's head further around Reki's skirt. "Hi," she said in a small voice. "You the new girl?"

"Yes," answered Aoi. "You come all the way down here to meet me? Because I sure would like to meet you."

"It is fun meeting a new girl," answered Hana, her shyness fast disappearing as she finally stepped around Reki's skirt. "I'm Hana."

"Hana," Aoi repeated. "Did you dream about flowers, Hana?"

"No," she asserted, which puzzled Aoi. "I like flowers and want to be a florist. So I'm Hana!"

"The Young Feathers don't have any respect for the naming traditions of the Haibane," Reki explained, still very amused by the children's antics.

"Well," Aoi looked thoughtful. "I'd say a dream for the future is still a good way to pick a name."

"That's right!" asserted Hana. She let go of Reki's skirt and stepped closer to Aoi, looking her over and quickly spying her wings.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "I want white wings like that, Reki!"

Shorta was over there in an instant, pushing to see. "Hey, how'd she get white wings!"

"Maybe she painted them!"

"Reki, get us some white paint! We want white wings!"

"I'll paint flowers on my wings too!"

"That's silly, Hana!"

"No arguing, you two," Reki shook her head, clearly exasperated. "And don't paint your wings. The housemother would kill me later."

"Oh, her?" shrugged Shorta. "We ducked away from her. We wanted to see the new girl. Say, what's your name anyways?"

"My name is Aoi," she answered him.

"Why?" he demanded. "Did you dream about a blue dress?"

Aoi couldn't contain it; she sank onto the bed laughing merrily. "No. But I did dream about an ocean of blue, that wasn't wet."

"All the storybooks say an ocean is full of water, and water is _definitely_ wet!" Shorta asserted.

"Not in my dream, it wasn't," she assured him.

He paused. "Well, I guess," he shrugged. "It was just a dream, wasn't it?"

"I'll get the little ones back to the Housemother," chuckled Nemu, who had been listening to this the whole time, and finding most of it funny. "She'll make them eat carrots with their breakfast again if I don't."

"Heaven forbid," Reki called after her. The two little ones waved goodbye and, laughing, ran merrily in front of Nemu out the door and down the hall.

* * *

Aoi laughed lightly from the bed where she still sat. "Those are some of the Young Feathers, are they?" was her comment. "They're adorable." 

"And some of the worst mischief makers one could ever encounter," said Reki, but she was smiling. "I'm used to them. You see, that has been my job here at Old Home for the past several years. Taking care of the newborn Haibane, or when somebody is sick, and helping the Housemother with the kids otherwise."

Rakka had to bite her tongue to admit that, until they had found Aoi's cocoon, Reki had been pushing several of her responsibilities off on to others--as if she was preparing to leave.

"I imagine Kana and Hikari will be in here very soon," she said instead. "I think they would have gone to town to pick up some breakfast...or at least Hikari. If Kana gets too much into her mechanics this morning, expect her to be--_rushed_."

"That is Kana with her clocks, but I'm sure Hikari at least went to town," Reki cast a quick glance at the large veranda windows, and at the soft snow outside. "It is a warm morning for winter, and the kitchen isn't much of an option when I'm taking care of a new Haibane."

Aoi blushed a little. Reki chuckled at seeing the uncertain look on her face.

"This room has always drawn people," she explained. "When we gather it is always in here. You, however, Aoi, may use the room as long as you like. You can pick out a new room anytime as well, when you are ready. Old Home is immense."

"Okay," Aoi nodded her head. Just what was this place where she had been born into? It was hard to picture. It was so strange, remembering practical matters and yet all her memories having to do with this one room.

Quietly she stood up and walked over to the veranda windows, to get her first look outdoors, through the glass.

The outside veranda did indeed show the signs of winter--snow all over everything. But from Aoi's limited perspective through the window it offered an immense view that called to her.

Unfortunately the thin material of her dress was what kept her from wanting to step outside more. Still, it was enough to trigger something...a sensation from deep within her. She didn't know this place at all. Wherever she had been on the outside world, nothing she had ever done, no place she had ever gone, had crossed paths with this isolated town.

Reki watched her stare out the window for several moments. "Don't worry," she said at last. "We'll get you outside as soon as possible. You'll get a better impression of Glie then."

"I'm back," called a voice, and there was a light knock on the door. "I picked up some breakfast. Is Aoi up and around, Reki?"

"Come in, Hikari," answered Reki. "Aoi is fine."

Aoi tensed slightly, but swallowed. Until she faced Hikari's reaction, she'd really know nothing.

Reki gave her a reassuring smile as Hikari came in, loaded down with bags and followed by Nemu.

"Thanks, Nemu," Hikari said as she entered. "I'm glad you came along just now; these were heavy."

"Glad to help," said Nemu. "Didn't you get an awful lot of food, Hikari?"

"I work at a bakery, you know. I stopped by there too, and when I told them we had a new Feather, they gave me some extra goodies to welcome her with."

"Well isn't that sweet?" chuckled Nemu.

Hikari set her packages down on the table before looking up, notincing Aoi by the windows.

"Oh, hi!" she exclaimed. "How are you feeling? How's the fever?"

"It was gone by the time I woke up this morning," Aoi answered, blushing..

"I'm glad of that," Hikari chirped, giving Aoi the distinct impression that this was someone who often had a lot of energy to spare. "And you look very nice in that dress."

"Thank you," Aoi answered.

"I am going to have to get you some wing covers made as soon as possible though," said Hikari thoughtfully, beginning to open bags and remove a number of take-out packages as she did so. "Keep your wings warm and dry. No coat can really do that."

"She'll need a coat _first_," Reki remarked.

Hikari chuckled. "I see. Well, we'll get you to town as quickly as we can then. Get you outfitted for winter, that is, if you don't freeze on the way."

"I hope not," Aoi answered, strangely rather starting to like this particular Haibane. This was one who always seemed to look for the sliver lining in things.

Aoi, however, still felt very tense. Hikari was also apparently not one to pay very close attention to details, or she'd have noticed by now that something was definetly..._odd_ about her. She was certainly standing close enough.

"Um, would you like me to help?" Aoi asked. The last thing she wanted to do was stand still right now.

"Well, certainly, if you want to," answered Hikari. "Nemu's already bringing out plates but she can show you where things are."

Aoi nodded as Nemu set down plates and smiled at her. She quickly followed the older Haibane back into the kitchen.

"Hikari's a little shortsighted," whispered Nemu as she rattled around in the cupboards for cups. "She jumps headfirst into things, but she'll notice eventually. But she's very kind, and I don't think she'll be mean about it. She's not that type."

"And Kana?" Aoi whispered back. She looked a little askance. "Nemu, would I be a coward if I were to tell you that I'm kind of...afraid?"

"I take it Reki told you what a sin-bound Haibane was," Nemu murmured. At Aoi's nod, she said, "I don't think you are, but white wings are still different. I just don't know. And you are not a coward. Genuine fear has little to do with cowardice. I was afraid of Reki at first, but it was cowardly of me to not attempt to accept Reki for who she was, either. I had to learn. Reki will never overcome her own problems if she is ostracized as well. However, what I tell you here, remains here, all right?"

Aoi nodded. "I understand."

* * *

Aoi had just set the last porcelain cup on the table when she heard a distinct _thump._

She looked up to see Hikari staring at her with wide eyes, and a slightly wary expression.

"I thought it was just the light a little while ago," Hikari murmured. "Aoi?"

Aoi swallowed momentarily, then straightened up and faced Hikari fully, clasping her hands in front of her in an unconscious, nonthreatening gesture. "Hikari?"

Hikari opened her mouth, then shut it again. She looked at the others, who were all also watching her, waiting for her reaction. Nobody else had so much as pointed out Aoi's wings for any reason. Did they see no cause to do so?

Hikari closed her eyes, then opened them once more. "If you like, I'll show you how to take wing measurements later and how to make wing covers," she offered. "We can work on them together. Is that all right with you?"

Aoi blushed pink, and Hikari noticed her whole body seemed to relax. She smiled. "I don't know if I can sew, but I can try."

Hikari smiled. "That's wonderful. Wings can absorb moisture so we should make them quickly. Now, let's set out the rest of this breakfast before Kana comes storming in here with her usual lack of manners, shall we? Especially if she considers herself 'late'."

Aoi chuckled and did as Hikari asked. She kept the fact she was still troubled to herself, for now, and not so much because Kana still had to see her wings. Hikari's reaction was more of someone who hadn't known at all how to respond.

_After she thought about it for a while, would her attitude change?

* * *

_

"I'm starved!" Kana announced as she came striding into the room. "I hope you got good takeout, Hikari."

"What?" Reki idly mocked. "No rushing in to choke on croissants, Kana?"

"Oh please," Kana rolled her eyes and ignored Reki's snickering. "I can be on time for breakfast once in a _while_, sheesh. Master also knows we have a new Feather."

"Don't you return to work today?" asked Nemu quickly as Kana flopped unceremoniously into one of the chairs.

"Yes, but a bit later than I normally go in. I'm surprised Master was so generous."

"He was generous enough the last time, too," Nemu reminded her as she set down plates of food in front of everybody, and more on platters in the center of the table. "He's an old man, and I'm sure he's dealt with many Haibane over his lifetime."

"He's an old bear," grumbled Kana.

"He was nice enough to me," Rakka volunteered with a grin.

"Yeah, _you_ were the guest, I am the one who answers to him all day," muttered Kana, but then she smiled and looked quickly at Aoi. "Pretty soon you should find a job too, Aoi. I did mention yesterday I'd show you where I worked. Spending time where everyone works to find a job you like is a good idea."

"Where does everyone work, besides you at the clock tower, Kana?"

"Nemu works in the library, where she works on the books in between naps," Kana grinned over Nemu's threatening look. "Reki generally helps care for the kids and such here at Old Home, and Hikari works at a bakery. Rakka works with the Haibane Renmei, much to my own surprise. Any of that appeal to you?"

Aoi blinked. "Um, I don't know," she said quickly, surprised. "None of you have even told me what the Haibane Renmei _are_."

"They are the group that garauntees our living," answered Kana. "_Haibane Renmei_ means Charcoal Feather Federation. It is they who oversee the payment of our expenses for Old Home, and in return we work for the town."

Aoi blinked at her. In a way that made sense, and in a way it didn't. "You are saying the town pays for the Haibane's living, and in return, we work for them?"

Kana nodded. "We're not allowed to recieve any money from our work," she explained. "And _where_ we can work is very limited. We use the Notebooks of the Haibane Renmei to buy things. I expect you'll be recieving one in a day or so, Aoi."

Aoi didn't get a chance to ask what the Notebook was. Kana looked at her directly, blinked, and rubbed her eyes.

"Oookay," she muttered. "I'm used to waking up early. I _can't_ be seeing things here. What in the world--"

Abruptly Kana left her seat and came around the table to where Aoi was sitting, needing to take a closer look.

Aoi felt herself grip the sides of her chair as Kana came up behind her. There was a tense silence before Kana whistled.

"_Wow_...white wings!"

"Yes, Aoi has white wings," Nemu said impassively, as if the fact were of no concern to her. She went on sipping her tea as if nothing was wrong.

"And nobody thought to point it out to me?" Kana demanded, returning to her chair with a thump.

Is it a big deal to you, then, Kana?" asked Reki, her tone cool.

"I...uh..." Kana sighed and dropped her chin into her hand, still staring at Aoi, who inadvertently leaned back in her chair. "I've never heard of a Haibane with white wings before," she mumbled.

"Yes, well, none of us have," Nemu's tone was still that of someone totally unconcerned.

"You're going to ask the Renmei, right?" asked Kana anxiously. "Because I've never heard of white wings, but I've also heard the townspeople tell stories of--"

"We know what the townspeople say on _that_," interrupted Nemu. "But I for one am not going to let _this_ bother me. The Renmei will be consulted, but in the meantime, don't let what you see affect how Aoi appeals to you as a friend, sister, and fellow Haibane."

"Ah...well no, I guess not," Kana finally admitted. "I don't suppose that'd be very fair."

She felt Reki's foot nudge her under the table. Kana got the hint.

"Uh...I'm sorry, Aoi," she said quickly. "I was surprised, that's all."

"It is all right," Aoi said, although her face was very red by now and regaining eye contact with Kana was difficult. She made herself do so. Kana had just been shocked, she told herself.

"Aoi...I'm sorry too," Hikari put in sadly. Aoi blinked and looked over at her.

"Why, Hikari? You seemed kind about it, even when you were surprised."

"I know," Hikari nodded. "And...I _tried_ to be. I just didn't know what to think though, and shut it out of my mind for a little while. Nemu is right, you know."

"I imagine life is full of a lot of shocks," Aoi said quietly. "I suppose we can only deal with them the best we can, right?"

Hikari smiled. "But of course!" she said brightly, all traces of sadness now completely gone.

Aoi blinked. _Boy, she sure changes moods pretty fast!_

"But..." Kana spoke once more, her face a mask of concentration. "How will the townspeople take it? At the very least they'll stare and point at Aoi."

"I'll take it when it comes," said Aoi softly.

Kana looked at her.

"You talk brave, at least. It must be harder than it looks, taking all of that. I'm sure that such a thing would have happened before. If the townspeople know of Haibane who--"

"Kana!" scolded Nemu.

"You know what I mean, Nemu! My point is Aoi can't be the first Haibane ever born with white wings either. If none of us have ever heard of it, then it probably only means that it hasn't happened for some years prior to the time any of us ever appeared, that's all."

Nemu's face remained fairly stern as she took a sip of tea, but inside she knew Kana's observation was indeed very accurate.

Hikari decided to change the subject entirely and dispel the mood that still lingered. "If Aoi's wings are fully dry by the time breakfast ends, then let's all go to town!" she suggested. "Aoi needs better clothes than what she has."

"We'll have to make use of the bikes and Reki's scooter," answered Nemu. "I don't mind walking so much but Aoi can't walk into town in winter, in that thin dress with nothing else."

"That is true," answered Hikari.

* * *

After breakfast, Nemu set out to see what she could do to keep Aoi at least partially covered long enough to get her to town. She hoped she was lucky enough in this endeavor, since Aoi's apparent frailness concerned her. 

Everyone else also scattered to get ready for the trip to town.

Nemu soon appeared back in the guest room with a carefully wrapped package, and a pair of shoes on top of them.

"These shoes are the closest to your size I could find, Aoi," she said, handing them to the surprised girl. "They used to belong to a friend of mine."

"Let me guess; Sumika?" asked Reki, amused.

Nemu just smiled, but Reki knew her comment had been accurate.

The shoes were a shiny black, and buttoned up the sides instead of tying. They looked very old-fashioned, but Aoi liked them at once. When she tried them on, they mostly fit. Half a size too large was, she figured, close enough.

"It'll give you enough room for stockings once we get you some," said Nemu with a smile.

"What is in the package?" asked Reki. "It looks like you haven't opened that one in years, Nemu. That wrapping looks old."

"It is," said Nemu, and she suddenly looked sad, much to Reki's surprise. "But...I think it is appropriate. It'll at least keep Aoi warmer for today. After that, if you object, I'll put it away again, Reki."

"What are you talking about?" Reki asked, even more surprised now.

Nemu didn't answer directly. She unwrapped the package carefully, and tenderly lifted from it a beautiful red shoulder cape that buttoned in the front and had a small gold-colored design near the fringe all around.

Reki felt like she would swallow her tongue. She'd not seen that in many, many years.

"Nemu...that's..."

"All I could find," interrupted Nemu. "Because we all want to go to town, don't we?" She smiled. "I too wanted to keep something of Kuramori's, you know."

"But..." stuttered Reki, totally at a loss for words.

"If it truly bothers you, then Aoi won't need it after one trip," answered Nemu softly.

There was pain in Reki's eyes, and Nemu could see it.

So did Aoi.

"It is pretty," she said softly. "But if it hurts Reki, I won't wear it. I'll freeze first, although I don't know who Kuramori is."

"Kuramori was...a Haibane from our childhood," answered Nemu as Reki strode over to the veranda windows and stared outside. "She is gone now, though. But after I discovered Reki's existence, she was the one who managed to get to Reki and her cocoon."

She glanced at Reki, knowing her actions had brought the past back for her dark-eyed friend.

Reki, hearing this, smiled to herself, despite the pain she forced down so it would not appear on her face. Nemu had tried to amend the truth for her sake. She turned around.

"It is all right," she said softly. "Aoi, I won't let you freeze on the trip up there. It will help a little bit till you get a coat at least."

Nemu gave her a grateful smile, and between them passed a silent, apologetic look. Reki knew Nemu hadn't meant to be unkind in any way.

Nemu held up the shoulder cape and shook it out, lightly and carefully. Aoi backed away from her.

"Is it really all right?" she murmured. "I don't want--"

"It is all right," insisted Reki. "Put it on, Aoi."

Reluctant now, Aoi reached out and accepted the garment from Nemu. It felt warm and, up close, was indeed quite pretty. In the back she could see wing slits--if she could make her disobedient wings work. They still twitched.

Carefully Aoi drew the garment over her shoulders, closing her eyes and struggling to bring her wings under control. They twitched stubbornly, and Reki came up behind her and held the bottom of the garment in place.

"Be careful," she advised. "You still have scabs. We don't want to hurt your wings."

"You all can control yours," Aoi murmured in her turn. "Why can't I?"

"Don't worry," said Reki kindly. "You'll be able to soon. It is like that way at first for all of us. In a few days your wings should obey you well enough."

"I see," Aoi said softly, then closed her eyes once more, _willing_ her wings to behave.

Finally they did, and burst through the wing slits with minimal feather loss.

Aoi sighed in relief and buttoned the button at the top of the cape, and pulled her braid back over her left shoulder, the way she had braided it.

Flushing, she turned around to face both Nemu and Reki. "Um...is it okay?" she asked.

Nemu smiled. "You look very nice. You'll still be cold on your trip, but the weather outside isn't too bad. We'll get you there before you freeze."

Reki was staring at her for several long seconds, before she suddenly blinked and chimed in. "Yes, it should keep you warm that long," she agreed in a too-cheerful voice. "Come on, Aoi. The others should be at the bulletin board by now."

Aoi nodded, ready to leave this room and its walls, which contained everything she _did_ remember.

* * *

_Author's note: Aoi's white wings are not inclined to mean what one would think they mean..._


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer:** Yoshitoshi ABe owns Haibane Renmei; I don't. I only own Aoi._

_Aoi starts to take off here, and the mystery begins to deepen. What do her white wings mean, and how will the Haibane Renmei, as well as the townspeople, react?_

_And yes, I'm toning down on the "Aoi is freezing" joke...that truly was partially a joke, and only one person has ever understood the deepest part of the joke; Aoi, meaning blue, and she's "blue with cold"...but whatever. That isn't the real reason why I named her Aoi; the joke just seemed to fit._

Aoi found herself walking with everyone else down a very long hallway, filled with many doors leading into unkown areas. Her footsteps echoed faintly in the corridor. Overhead were old lights. 

Aoi had the vague sensation of all this stretching on into infinity. She couldn't explain why she felt that way. Just the sensation of endless myriad paths going in infinite directions...

She eventually was led around a corner and down a set of stairs, and shortly after, to a door that led outside.

A brightness, unlike anything that had penetrated the guest room, assailed her eyes now, and for a few moments, she blinked while alternately shivering with the sudden cold she felt.

Aoi forced her discomfort aside, although she could not stop from automatically hugging herself. Instead she concentrated on her surrounding.

She was in a large courtyard. A bright whiteness of snow lay over everything, although the ground was trampled by footsteps of all sizes, as well as wheel tracks. She could see at least one stone bench and, further along, a well.

All around her rose large, large buildings, towering over her at least three stories. There was also a large clock tower. She could also discern a high wall.

"Wow," she murmured. "Is this all yours?"

"It is where we live, yes," answered Hikari. "You can see now why we nearly missed your cocoon."

"Yes, I see that," Aoi just stood and stared wonderingly. It would be hard keeping track of all the rooms in a place this enormous.

"Well it also means you have plenty of rooms to choose from," said Kana cheerfully. "Come on, let's go get our bikes." she strode ahead rapidly towards an archway across the courtyard.

"Be glad some of the snow melted the other day," Nemu wagged her finger after the figure hurrying in front of them. "Or we'd be walking."

"Except maybe for Aoi and Reki," Kana called back. "Walking? Aoi'd freeze before we got there."

Aoi stifled a laugh. "I'm getting a feeling that any references to my freezing is starting to become a joke," she said.

Hikiari flushed at Aoi's comment. "It looks like it, I guess," she admitted. "I'm sorry my spare shawl wore out or I'd have loaned it to you. Today does, however, seem to be a pretty nice day for winter."

"It is all right. We can't control these things," Aoi answered her. "Just like I am having a hard time controlling _these_ things."

She jerked her head slightly in the direction of her shoulders, and wings. The wings on her back twitched, as if to prove her point, and the group laughed as they also reached the archway.

"I'm sure Reki told you already that you'd get used to it," smiled Hikari.

"I sure hope so," Aoi glanced back over her shoulder, and in response her wings twitched again. "I do not like not being in control of my body."

"A little practice and you'll be fine," Rakka came hurrying up from behind them, her hands on a bicycle's handlebars. "I do advise practice, though. The Renmei will eventually want to see you, Aoi, and it will be easiest on you to be able to control your wings by then."

Aoi blinked at her. "They will want to see me?"

"Oh yes," said Hikari, prepared to hop up behind Kana as she came around wheeling a bike with extra foot grips. "The Communicator always meets with a newborn Haibane. There is a reason you'll want to control your wings by then."

This only made half sense to Aoi. If the Communicator wanted to speak with her, what did her wings have to do with it?

"We can discuss that later," called Reki, bringing her scooter around as well. "Okay, Aoi, hop on, and hold on tight."

"Okay." Aoi climbed onto the scooter behind Reki and trustingly put her arms about the older Haibane. The others indicated that they were ready also, two to a bike. Satisfied, Reki started her scooter and rode on off.

Aoi gave a slight gasp and Reki felt her arms tighten about her middle.

"Are you okay?" she called back.

"I'm fine," Aoi gasped. "I don't think I was expecting it, really, that's all."

She swore, though, that she felt her own face go whiter than a sheet. Her heart pounded like a jackhammer behind her ribs as well.

"Do you wanna switch to a bike?"

"No, it's okay," Aoi said, breathing deeper now. "Please go on, Reki. I'm fine now."

Her arms around Reki relaxed even as she spoke. Reki smiled to herself, glad to know that Aoi wasn't truly afraid. It had just been unexpected for her.

Aoi gave a deep sigh and laid her head against Reki's back, feeling her heartbeat slow back down. Yes, it was all right. 

The dim realization came to her that she'd been on a scooter before...how, she didn't know. It certainly hadn't been _here_. Just, like speaking, it was one of those practical things she recalled, without knowing how she had aquired the knowledge to begin with.

* * *

Rakka had to pedal hard to catch up with Reki, although Reki was now going slowly so the others could keep up with her.

"Reki, stop for a minute," she called. "Let Aoi see the Hill of Winds!"

"Well...all right," Reki supposed she should not have been so surprised. Kuu had loved this place and had passed that love to Rakka. 

Reki, too, enjoyed it, although she had always felt that such a bright place didn't belong with someone in darkness like herself. It hadn't fully stopped her from spending hours outside anyways, _painting_...

Aoi wasn't sure what they meant to show her, but she soon found out. They had just passed a bridge over a river, and she'd been doing her best to drink in the scenery around her, despite the scooter whisking her over it.

When Reki stopped, though, and Aoi looked over to see immense windmills whirling loudly from several places on a large hillside, she smiled, a smile which began to grow. Her blue eyes sparkled in delight, and impulsively, she let Reki go and slid off the scooter.

_That hill called her._

"Aoi!" Reki sounded startled, but she heard no voice forbidding her. 

Aoi did curb her impulse to run, though, and stood a few steps away, hugging herself against the cold and closing her eyes for several seconds, taking a few deep breaths. The air whooshed into her lungs and seared every part of her body, down to her toes, and she could swear for a moment that the ground disappeared from beneath her feet, as if she'd taken flight.

She didn't notice Reki staring at her. Wearing that shoulder cape and standing in the wind like that, Reki was reminded, for just an instant, of Kuramori, although the two would hardly resemble each other were they ever to meet.

The sight of Aoi standing there caused Rakka to laugh. "That was my first impression of this place," she called over. "Don't worry, Aoi, it's natural."

Aoi turned around and laughed lightly. "Yes, very much so. Sorry, Reki," she apologized, coming back to the scooter and getting back on...or at least, _floating_ over? She didn't know. She could still barely feel the ground, and her whole body tingled.

Reki, however, was chuckling. "It is no problem," she assured the younger girl. "So long as you don't freeze. The Hill of Winds seems to inspire things in people. I don't understand why, but there it is."

"I took a deep breath and suddenly had the sense of _flight_," Aoi confessed quietly. "Does that sound...strange?"

Reki paused a moment. _Flight? That was something Kuu would have said. _"I'd say not," she said at last. "I have always thought there was more than one reason why it was called the Hill of Winds, besides those noisy windmills."

"I know what Aoi means," said Rakka, quietly now as she pedaled beside Reki. "Come on, though, let's get to town. I know _my_ hands are getting a bit numb, and I'm not wearing a summer dress."

* * *

Eventually Aoi could see the town come into view. Houses started to appear, and people, although they huddled into their coats and didn't spare the Haibane a glance, so intent where they on getting to where it was warmer. Aoi was privately glad for this; nobody noticed her wings. 

Eventually they reached occupied streets. The rows of houses, close together, sheltered them some from the wind.

"It isn't too far now from the thrift shop," Reki announced. "I'll at least hand it to the guy who runs it for keeping it toasty warm inside."

"You'll have to hand it to him for more than that," piped up Rakka. "He's got a magic touch for locating stuff. Especially when it comes to getting ten of a single item for the Young Feathers."

Reki just laughed. "You are right," she admitted.

They soon turned into a side street, and parked their bikes close to a green door.

Aoi slid off Reki's scooter and went to the door with the rest of them. She paused, however, at seeing a plaque beside the door, with a strange symbol on it. Intrigued, Aoi bent a little closer to examine it. A straight line with two downward-slooping lines attached to it, curling on the ends, and those having an extra curling line added to them, and a circle above the figure.

"It means Haibane are allowed to shop here," whispered Nemu from beside her. "You already know that the places where Haibane can shop and work are very limited, Aoi. Whenever you see this sign, you are permitted to shop here for what you need. You'll find them at various other older establishments, too, any that have successfully operated for more than a full human generation. You'll also find them at any eating establishment. We are not restricted, at least, on the purchase of food."

Aoi nodded. If a Haibane was bound by the rules she had been told, then a system like this made sense. None of her new friends seemed to be lacking in any way for what they truly needed. Indeed, they seemed fairly well taken care of, even bound by these rules. And for a place where nobody was allowed to leave, it sounded like a blessing in disguise.

* * *

Pots and teakettles clunked dully as Nemu reached over and opened the door, leading them into a cozy, warm area.

Or at least it was _warm_. When Aoi entered, experiencing the exquisite thrill of thawing out, she could also see rows after rows of clothing, mixed in with a number of other racks filled with used items of every sort she could imagine. A bit more junky than cozy, she decided, but there was a definite warmth in here despite this.

"Welcome, be there in a second," called a male voice, entering the room bearing enough boxes of things to impede his vision. He hefted the boxes down onto the floor behind the counter with a grunt, before standing up and stretching. Finally he turned to look at them.

He looked perhaps in his late twenties, Aoi descided, and his face was a bit scruffy, as well as his manner when he looked at them and said something about Haibane coming in from the cold.

However, when he turned his smile at them, Aoi was relieved to quickly discern that it was also warm, and so were his eyes.

"Hello ladies," he greeted them cheerfully. "In for more winterwear? Don't blame you. Even warm out there is still cold."

"We are," said Reki. "Or at least one of us in particular."

She nodded over her shoulder, where Aoi was standing there, a little uneasily. The shopkeeper noticed her then and smiled in his scruffy way.

"Oh, somebody new," he commented. "Hello there."

"Ah--hello," Aoi whispered, immediately feeling shy and nearly backing away from him a little.

"Hey, now, I'm not an old grouch or anything," he laughingly chided, wagging a finger at her. "Gimmie a chance, all right?"

He gave such an endearing grin that Aoi felt herself melt, and her shyness start to fade. She liked how open he was. Her return smile was much less timid.

"That's better," he commented. "Now, let's see if we can remedy the fact that your friends brought you in really, _truly_ dressed for the opposite season, shall we?" 

She was, however, very surprised when he reached over and lightly touched her halo, chuckling to himself about something, although she could only discern the words, "it stuck at least."

She didn't have time to be puzzled. He indicated that she follow him to a rack full of clothing meant for young ladies.

"Pick out an outfit here," he indicated. "Then we'll see about coats. Get something _warm_."

"Ah, yes," was all she could think to say as she reached over and looked through the long row of dresses and skirts. A prettier dark blue skirt caught her eye, and she pulled it off the rack to take a closer look.

It seemed to be of a heavy fabric, with the waist and hemline embroidered in red. Wearing it, Aoi figured that it would reach at least to her calves, probably lower.

"Well I can promise _that_ one will wear well," commented the shopkeeper. "Just if you get a skirt, you'll need a blouse, and probably a sweater."

Aoi nodded. The blouse she located was also a dark blue, and had a round neckline, but about the neck was trimmed a similar red color as the skirt.

"Must've been an outfit; how'd I miss that?" the shopkeeper commented to himself. "All right then. It should look nice with those white wings of yours. The darker blue will highlight the white."

Aoi froze.

The others, who had been poking around at the store's various other shelves and racks, also paused. The shopkeeper wasn't unaware of the glances they exchanged among themselves.

"Aw, c'mon," he protested, moving his hands downward in a calming motion. "It is a bit curious but it don't really matter to me any. Sometimes one or another Haibane is born with different wings. My old granny was full of tales, so I just take it in stride."

"Did your 'old granny' ever tell you of one with white wings?" Reki came up protectively behind Aoi.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at some of the stories I've heard," he said cheerfully, as if none of this truly mattered. He beckoned them both over to the coats as he did so. "Your new friend here is probably the first in many, many years, but yes, my grandmother knew such a Haibane when she was a girl. It has happened before--and by the way, what is your name?" he suddenly turned and directed his question to Aoi.

"Aoi," she said softly, her face burning red.

"Blue," he said immediately. "Well it suits you, I'd say." He began thumbing through the coat rack.

"Did...did your grandmother ever tell you anything else?" Aoi ventured, beating Reki to the question.

"Ah, well...she didn't go into great detail, I'm sorry to say," the shopkeeper pulled out a coat, dismissed it as too big, and put it back. "I do know that she got friendly with her. Thought she seemed nice enough. What really stuck in her memory, though, was that when the white-winged Haibane was born, she wasn't the only one there with wings of a different color at the time. That other poor Haibane, though, did not have white wings. I don't know much beyond that, I'm afraid."

Reki looked shocked, while Aoi looked both fascinated and relieved. So--she _wasn't_ the first! It didn't help her in terms of knowing who she was, or why she'd been born this way, but it was a relief to know that, even different, she wasn't the first Haibane to have ever had white wings.

"Well, as I said, it doesn't bug me none," the shopkeeper chatted away. "Others may stare a bit, Aoi, and comment, but I'd not be too concerned. Maybe some of the younger ones have never even been told a Haibane can be born with white wings. It may help you to get hardened to all the comments you are bound to hear at first, though. Just saying."

His last sentence turned very kindly towards her. Aoi sensed he was sincere, at least.

"Well," he sighed, changing the subject back to coats, "None here really fit you. There are some here I could alter a bit, though, take in the hems and such..."

"Well..." said Aoi, trying to push her spinning thoughts from her mind as she located a very pretty, large white shawl, trimmed with dark blue ribbon around the edge, and not too different in style from the one Nemu was wearing.

The shopkeeper looked over her shoulder. "Oh, I can guarantee _that_ will keep you warm," he said with a cheerful smile. "Nice, woolen,and warm. I also advise a sweater then, but with both, it should keep you warm even when it is very cold."

Aoi nodded, and after a little more hunting managed to find a dark blue sweater to cover the blouse. She also quickly located a few other necessary garments, including stockings.

The others had picked out various items of clothing as well by this time, and carried them to the counter. Aoi was very surprised when the shopkeeper whisked her new clothes out of her hands.

"Musn't let you go back outside in that thin dress," he chided. "Now for my extra-special service!"

Without further ado, he whisked out a pair of scissors and started up his sewing machine. The other Haibane chuckled to themselves at Aoi's astonished look.

Within a few moments he was thrusting her garments back into her hands. The blouse, sweater, and shawl all had new wing slits, well hemmed.

"I've gotten used to making those," he chuckled. "Practice makes perfect, eh? Now we'll ring you all up and then I have a side room where you can go and change."

Before she could even respond, he turned his attention to the others, and began ringing up their items.

Obligingly they took out reddish-brown notebooks, and Aoi swiftly noticed that each of them had the same symbol on them that she had seen by the door to the shop--the symbol of the Haibane Renmei. It was enough to remind her that she didn't have one.

"Here, Aoi, you just sign this." Again before she could speak, the shopkeeper handed her a small board with paper on it. "And leave a feather. I figured you'd not have a notebook yet."

Aoi, still wordless, just nodded her head and took the pen Hikari offered her. Quickly she signed the sheet, but when she struggled to reach a feather from her wings, they just twitched and refused to hold still.

"Here, let me help," offered Reki, noticing Aoi's frustrated glance. Carefully she selected a feather and pulled quickly, causing Aoi to wince.

"Sorry, I tried to mind your scabs," Reki apologized. Aoi nodded her understanding and handed the form, and feather, to the shopkeeper. He cheerfully pointed out a fitting room Aoi hadn't noticed before, and she gathered her new clothes and headed in that direction.

* * *

When Aoi stepped back out, she certainly _felt_ a lot warmer than before. The skirt of her outfit ended just shy of her high black shoes. After a little struggling, she had finally managed to figure out the basics of making her wings obey. Putting on the blouse had been a tussle, but the sweater and shawl had gone on much more easily.

"Aoi, you look so nice," Hikari complimented her. "And now you won't--"

"Don't say 'freeze', Hikari, please?" Aoi begged her.

Hikari just laughed nervously. "Well, you look good anyways," she amended, her face going red.

"You look ready to hit the town," the shopkeeper said as he cheerfully waved them from his shop. "Come back soon, ladies!"

Aoi turned and bowed her thanks to him before turning and hurrying to catch up to the others. He was very kind, and she wished she knew how to repay him for that.

She found herself ignoring the chatter of the others, though, on the subject of lunch, and how Kana had to go to work now and how Rakka had to go back to work this afternoon and take the halo mold with her and...

She shut it all out. Her mind was focused on what the shopkeeper had so nonchalantly let slip about Haibane with white wings. He had restrained himself upon mentioning others with 'different wings' however, and Aoi suddenly got the feeling that the subject of Unblessed Haibane was probably more whispered about than discussed out loud in polite society.

"I have to go back too," Nemu's voice suddenly intruded on her thoughts. "And Hikari, didn't you promise to help with the kids again this afternoon? The Housemother doesn't have ten hands, I'm sorry to say."

"Yeah," said Hikari, reluctantly. "And I should also locate the material used to make Aoi's wing covers."

Aoi and Reki glanced at each other. They were the only ones, they realized, who hadn't put forth a vote to return to Old Home.

"If Aoi wants to see more of the town, I'll stay with her," Reki volunteered. "This is all so new to her."

"Agreed," said Nemu, not saying the fact that Reki was probably wanting to guard Aoi from others who might mock her instead. She couldn't always. Aoi had already shown a willingness to face what she had to.

* * *

It didn't take long for Aoi to notice, even as the others drove off on the bikes, that Reki's eyes were a million miles away.

"You're thinking about it too, aren't you," she said quietly, making Reki snap back to the present. The older Haibane blinked and looked at her directly, then pushed back from the wall she'd been leaning on to approach her scooter.

"I was," said Reki slowly. "There was more in what he said...than I think he knows."

"Do the humans not understand the Haibane then?" Aoi asked as they got onto Reki's scooter.

"They know mostly what they see, or hear if a friendship happens to grow between one of them and one of us," answered Reki. "Nemu is good friends with a human woman named Sumika. I'm sure she's told her some things."

She felt Aoi's arms tremble around her as she started the scooter. "Don't worry," she called over. "They may stare some, but don't let it affect you."

Aoi nodded. She didn't know if she'd end up with people afraid of her, but all she could do, she figured, was do her best to be a good Haibane, and prove them wrong. And, even if there was a dye in existence to make white wings gray, she'd also already decided not to accept its use. She did not know why she had such a strong impulse to be taken for who she truly was.

* * *

Aoi silently sipped soup from the oddly-shaped bamboo bowl she'd been handed by a smiling cafe owner.

Reki was just absentmindedly stirring hers.

"It is going to get cold, Reki," Aoi nudged her gently.

"I'm not really hungry," Reki answered, but she automatically swallowed a little steaming soup to distract Aoi. She had too much on her mind.

Aoi hid a shrug. What could she do? Her mind momentarily wandered back to even _getting_ these soup bowls that now warmed their hands.

The cafe owner, a middle-aged gentleman, had blinked with obvious surprise when he had noticed Aoi's white wings. He was about to open his mouth to say something when he had seen Aoi stiffen and an uncertain look enter her eyes. Reki had also stepped up protectively behind her.

In the end, he had decided against making a comment of any sort. He just shrugged and cheerfully filled two bamboo soup containers, handing them both to Aoi while Reki used her notebook to pay.

"I like it when I get new customers!" he had called after them, waving goodbye. "Be sure to come back!"

At least he hadn't seemed afraid of her, Aoi reflected now, slowly taking another sip from her spoon. Still, she'd just been given her first real taste of what it would mean to have wings of a different color than normal. 

"Aoi?"

Aoi swallowed her soup a little faster than she meant to. "Yes, Reki?" she asked over the scalding sensation in her throat.

"Do you think you can handle it?"

Aoi looked at her for a moment before Reki fluttered her wings, and then she understood.

"I will do my best, Reki," she answered somberly. "Even if there is a dye for white wings to make them gray, I don't think I want it."

Reki gave her a long look. "Are you sure about that? Everyone might end up treating you differently. That cafe owner wanted to say something. We both saw that."

"He did not seem to have bad feelings about it though," Aoi answered steadily. "He was curious. You know what, Reki? This may end up simply teaching me who here is worthy as a friend. If they are going to spend more time staring at my wings than looking into my eyes, even after they get past their surprise, then they are _not_ worthy as a friend."

"Aoi..." Reki stared at her, astonished.

Aoi closed her soup container, although it was still half full, and laid it aside. She too was suddenly no longer hungry. 

"Such a friend is far less likely to betray and abandon you later," she said, very quietly.

Tears filled her eyes at that point, and she did not even know the source of her pain. Its origin was lost, but the pain was still there. Aoi suddenly sensed it clearly. The pain of loss, of someone she loved dearly and cared about. It was not from this time, but _something_ in her remembered.

"Hey, now, don't cry," said Reki quickly, very surprised by the sudden change. It was impulse that made her put her arm around Aoi, because she hadn't expected that reaction at all.

Aoi just trembled, blinked a few times, and her tears were gone. Gingerly Reki released her.

"I'm all right, Reki," Aoi murmured. "I am sorry. You must think me very strange. I don't know where that came from."

"No, I understand completely," Reki told her with a smile, hiding her own pain. Aoi's words resonated with her. They resonated far too strongly. 

Aoi drew in a deep breath. "Maybe that was too awful a thought," she murmured. "I...after all, it is only fair to give people a chance first, right?"

"Well..." Reki began. How could she tell Aoi that? That she'd long since stopped trusting people? Yet Aoi was in for a world of darker pain if she learned for herself the hard way.

"Reki?"

Reki turned towards her, a feeble excuse on her lips, which faded abruptly when she met Aoi's penetrating stare. For just a split second their eyes locked, and Reki suddenly felt stripped of everything she hid herself behind. Quickly she looked away.

"Here," Reki picked up Aoi's half-forgotten soup bowl and pushed it back into her hands. "It'll get cold."

It caused Aoi to smile at Reki's abrupt attempt to cover her feelings. She decided to play along and forget what she'd seen in Reki's eyes. For just a _second_ she'd seen a great deal of Reki, and she could not quite comprehend what she had been privy to. All she knew was that it had been very private. "You first."

Reki picked hers up. "You are stubborn."

"And you are not?"

"You won't grow strong if you don't."

"What about you?"

"I'm done growing."

"No, you're not."

"What gives you that idea?"

"Your head is still swelling."

Reki looked at her, startled, and Aoi just burst out laughing. Reki followed a moment later.

"I will," Reki conceded after she stopped laughing so hard. "If you stop sounding so much like Hana. That girl is going to be a _bad_ influence on you."

"I'm going to have to talk with Hana more then," Aoi said mischeviously, but she re-opened the container of soup and started to finish it.

"Dig in," Reki sighed. "And I was about to exercise the authority of a senior Haibane on you, too..."

"I don't think that exists," Aoi answered between mouthfuls.

"And you are so sure because..." Reki trailed off.

"I've already seen enough of you all to realize that you all work together to keep Old Home running," Aoi sounded quiet now.

It made Reki pause, and a sort of distant look came over her face. "You are right on that count," she answered. "Nobody wants to slack...because they are all good Haibane."

* * *

They finished their soup and put the disposable containers in a garbage can.

"Did you want to see the wall up close before we go back to Old Home?" asked Reki. "They are an impressive sight."

Aoi glanced ahead. She could already see the tops of the wall looming over the rows of houses across the street from where she and Reki stood.

Still...

Her eyes strayed to the tops of the walls. Even from this distance those walls seemed to have something to say.

"Yes," she murmered.

"We must not get too close, and we definietly must _not_ linger," warned Reki. "The rules forbid it. Come on."

She left her scooter parked, and they walked. Reki knew nobody would take it. This town was too honest for that.

The narrow concrete streets took them closer and closer. So intent was Aoi on the wall by now that she no longer noticed when she recieved the occassional staring at her wings from passerby, and muted whispers.

She did not even notice when some of the elderly in the streets simply smiled in curious understanding when they saw her wings. They remembered, if fewer in the younger generations did not.

Nobody stopped to comment, though, and very suddenly, the Great Gate Square spread out before the two girls. It was large, and the design focused on bringing attention to enormous gates. Snow was everywhere, and here and there, people were walking, talking, and generally going about their daily life.

Beyond that, Aoi could see immense walls looming up and over her, high, taller by far than any building she'd seen so far in Glie.

"Oh my..." was all she could say.

There was something in those walls. They radiated...Aoi didn't know what. Those walls seemed to be saying something her ears could not hear. She could not explain it. It fascinated her, and yet terrified her at the same time. 

Reki's words about the walls being forbidden made a whole lot of sense all of a sudden, although Aoi didn't know for sure why this was.

"It isn't a Marketing day," Aoi heard Reki suddenly say. "What are _they_ doing here?"

"Hm?" Aoi's eyes had been focused on the distant tops of the walls. She tore her gaze from them and looked downwards, finally noticing the large gates set into the wall. Two stiff, stern guards were on either side of the door, surrounded by ferociously snarling dobermans. Definetly not people to cross.

That was not, however, what Reki had been talking about. Not far in front of them were three figures. Two were dressed alike, with long brown robes and hoods that hid their eyes, and bindings covering their lower faces. Only their noses could be seen.

The third figure was also dressed in brownish robes, but different. While his grayish-white hood did not come down so far, he had a very strange mask on, with a single hole in the center where his eyes would have been, and lower down, another small hole where his mouth was. On his back were what looked like brown wings, but they did not seem real. Bells hung from holes at the bottom of these false wings.

Two of them, the one in the mask and one of the two with his mouth bound, were moving their hands. They formed different shapes with their fingers, back and forth.

"Are they talking?" Aoi whispered, fascinated.

"Yes," whispered Reki. "The ones with their mouths bound are the Toga. The other one is the Haibane Renmei Communicator. The Toga are the only ones ever allowed outside the walls. You must never touch them, or attempt to speak to them, Aoi. It is forbidden. Likewise they'd never come near us."

This was a very strange thought to Aoi. The bindings over their mouths almost seemed to prevent them from speaking, by force. All their language was made to flow through their hands, and the odd shapes of their fingers.

"What are they saying?" she whispered, mesmerized by watching their hands. It was like a strange, hypnotic dance, and Aoi yearned to know the meaning of that dance.

"I don't know," Reki answered. "Only they know the language. Normally Toga only appear in public when they bring in goods from the outside to trade with the town. Seeing them here is very unusual. The Haibane Renmei Communicator also doesn't usually appear in public unless it is Market day. This is rather odd."

"The Communicator--the one in the mask?" Aoi whispered. "Is he the one who..."

She trailed off.

"Yes," answered Reki, and there was a sudden edge to her voice. "He'll be the one who speaks to you when you are summoned to the Temple. He is an official Communicator, and only Communicators are allowed to speak with words."

Aoi clasped her hands in front of her nervously. "I think...I ought to be told what to expect, then," she said softly.

"One of the others could tell you better than me," whispered Reki. "That old man likes to preach, though, just a warning."

Aoi blinked at Reki in astonishment. Reki seemed very devoted to the ways of the Haibane. To hear her speak like that was unexpected, and sounded incredibly irreverent.

Reki wasn't lost on the look Aoi gave her. She just smiled. "Oh, don't mind me," she waved it off. "He and I don't get along, that's all. He seems to get along well enough with Rakka. Speaking of which--" 

She stopped suddenly. "Rakka was supposed to return the halo mold to him today!" she exclaimed. "It is unlike him to be around here right now...she must stuck waiting for him to show up at the temple."

One of the Dobermans at the gate had been eyeing them warily for some time now as they stood there and whispered, and now he got up and took a sudden step at them.

Reki noticed immediately and stepped backwards, grasping Aoi by the sleeve.

"Come on," she urged, tugging. "We can't stay so close to the wall any longer. We'll get into trouble."

But the Toga and the Communicator had stopped using their sign language. Aoi felt pierced to her core when the Communicator paused a moment, then looked specifically in their direction.

Right at _her_.

Aoi froze.

She could not see past his mask and yet she felt him looking straight through her.

What he saw, she didn't know. But it had to have been _something_. Her heart pounded fiercely in her chest, and her whole body was icy. She was shivering and yet Reki's tugging could not budge her.

"Aoi, I am _not_ going to get picked up by the Community Watch," Reki said impatiently. "Let's go."

The communicator finally turned his head, and Aoi's body unlocked. Unsteadily she followed Reki's pulls, tugging her back further into the town and away from the walls.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Reki panted as they got out of sight of the square, and Aoi had breathlessly gasped what had held her against Reki's pulling. "That old man can be intimidating when he wants to be. I should have expected that look of his would make you freeze. We just can't stay near the walls long. They are dangerous. Those rules are there for our own protection."

"Reki..." Aoi gasped, feeling as if every ounce of strength had drained from her body. She reached out, holding onto the side of a building for support, breathing heavily.

"Aoi? Are you all right? Damn, I should have known." Reki reached over and touched her forehead. It was warm to the touch.

"What..." Aoi didn't know what was going on. She felt so weak.

"It is common with newborn Haibane so soon after moving around for the first time," Reki said softly. "Emotional strain, and physical exhaustion. Come on, let's get you home. You'll be fine by tomorrow."

Aoi just nodded and pushed herself up from against the wall. Exhausted as she felt, she could walk, although Reki kept a close eye on her as they made their way back to her scooter.

"I'm sorry," Reki said as they walked along. "You're still recuperating, and here I was dragging you all over town."

"It is not your fault," Aoi said with a small smile. "I was the one captivated by all the sights. Glie is such a new place to me."

The way back Aoi again had to put up with the stares of those who noticed her wings, quite obviously much lighter than those of Reki's gray ones. She could not help but hear a few whispers.

"White wings? I've never seen white wings."

"What does it mean?"

"I think they're pretty."

"She's not the first. I'm an old man and in my childhood there was one..."

"Should we be afraid?"

"She's so different!"

"It can't be the same as those with black feathers. I mean, she can't be cursed, can she?"

"Who knows? Maybe white is a different form of sin-bound."

"And maybe it isn't."

"Do not speak so openly of the sin-bound. It is rude."

Reki sighed on hearing the whispers, and cast a sidelong glance at Aoi. Aoi was biting her lip and looking troubled; Reki could not tell if she was distressed at catching these whispers, or simply exhausted in general.

The one thing Reki did notice was that very few of the glances cast their way were of outright fear or malice. Most seemed curious. It was understandable, right? If white wings hadn't appeared in so many years, then, at least at first, people would be more curious than afraid or condemning. It would change when they found out some answers..._or if time went by with none._

One whisper, though, made Reki's stomach clench. The whisper that perhaps white was a different form of sin-bound. Was that true? She'd never before heard of such a thing. Her black feathers were the mark of her sin. Was white a different version, but still in the end a signal of darkness? Was Aoi sin-bound after all?

Reki could feel her own temples starting to throb. She and Aoi reached her scooter, and wordlessly she climbed on, and Aoi slid on behind her.

It was not until they were past the town and back out in the open when the cold wind stinging their cheeks seemed to wake back up.

"Are you okay?" Reki called back to her.

"I'm all right," Aoi's voice barely reached her over the scooter's noise.

"Can you bear the things they said?" asked Reki, deciding not to mention the comment about sin-bound she had overheard. If Aoi found this too hard to bear, she'd make sure the Renmei gave her a potion, if it existed, to dye white wings gray, and then in some way or other, make Aoi use it.

"I'm all right," Aoi answered. "Most were curious more than anything, I guess. They should get over their shock in time. It is just..."

She felt Aoi's arms jerk spasmodically around her. 

"You overheard it too, didn't you? Is white a different form of sin-bound?"

Reki swallowed. _Guess I wasn't the only one who heard that then._

"I don't know," Reki muttered. "That is an awful way for anybody to view those white wings, Aoi..."

"You've been thinking it too!" Aoi's voice reached her, firmer this time.

"We just don't know the answer to that," Reki responded. "It shocked me but I don't want to think of you like that, Aoi. We'll have to save the true answer to that question for the Renmei."

Aoi sighed. "If it is true, then..."

"Then...?"

She could sense Aoi's spine stiffen. "Then I'll face it," came the resolved reply. "I do not know the way out, but I'll find it. There _has_ to be a way."

Reki suppressed a shiver of sadness. Aoi was made of far stronger stuff than she had assumed at first. Her words and feelings were brave, and not faked for the sake of appearance. However...what if Aoi spent seven years hunting with no resolve then, as she herself had done? It would destroy her from the inside out.

_And why should she automatically fail?_ Came the mocking thought from the back of Reki's mind. _She does not seem to be inclined to act as stupidly as you did, Reki. She will probably end up like Rakka, overcoming her issues and finding forgiveness._

Reki cast a quick glance over her shoulder. Aoi was leaning tiredly against her back now, eyes closed, but her face showing hints of her troubled emotions. A mixture of protectiveness and understanding managed to touch Reki then._ I truly don't want her to be sin-bound to begin with. She still might not be. What do those gossiping townspeople know for sure? And even if she is not, she is still as different from the others as I am._

Aoi sensed Reki turning to briefly glance at her, but did not open her eyes, and did not say out loud her own thoughts, which were simply, _And if I can find a way out, Reki, surely you can too. You've been so kind and yet you suffer... 

* * *

_

The scooter arrived back at Old Home a few minutes later. Aoi, gathering her limited strength, got off and picked up the parcels containing the blue summer dress and Kuramori's shoulder cape. Hesitantly she held out the second one to Reki.

"I think this should go back to you and Nemu now," she said quietly. "I have no more need for it."

Reki gave her a long stare, suddenly remembering how much Aoi, wearing that, had reminded her of Kuramori.

Gently she put her own hands on the parcel and pushed it back towards Aoi. "Keep it, if Nemu agrees. It will do you good this spring. It did nobody any good sitting in Nemu's storage unused."

"But she wanted to remember your friend with it!" Aoi protested.

"She'll remember it when she sees you wearing it," Reki smiled back. "I do not think she'll say no."

Aoi nodded, whispering her thanks. Reki walked close beside her as they made their way back up to the guest room, for Aoi's exhaustion was still very evident. She did not tell Aoi her own thoughts on the shoulder cape. She had no hopes left of salvation for herself, but maybe Kuramori's goodness still lingered in that garment, and it could help Aoi find hers..._that is, if she truly __**was**__ sin-bound. 

* * *

_

There was a bench hidden in the depths of the Temple Garden. Rakka sat on it, tense and nervous. From what she could figure out from the attendant's silent hand signals, she was to wait here with the halo mold until the Communicator returned. She could not attend to her job inside the walls until he took the mold from her.

At long last she heard a jingling of bells, and suddenly Washi was standing a short distance from her, cane in hand.

Rakka stood up and, holding the mold to her chest for a moment, pressed her wrists together in the standard greeting.

"I apologize for having you wait so long," he acknowledged her. "There were some issues I had to attend to. You are returning the halo mold?"

Rakka's right wing moved, jangling the bells attached to it. She held out the parcel and he took it from her.

"The new Feather will be summoned to the temple tomorrow," he told her. "A notice is being put up on the bulletin board at Old Home as we speak."

Rakka gave him a nervous, troubled look, something he did not miss.

"The issue with the new Feather's wings will be addressed then," he told her gently.

Rakka drew in a sharp breath, biting back the words she was forbidden to utter without expressed permission.

"Is there something you wish to say? I give you permission to speak," he granted her.

"Is she in trouble?" Rakka burst out. She had worried about Aoi's wings constantly since first entering the Temple, and what Washi had to say about the matter.

"She is a newborn," came the calm reply. "The matter of her wing color will be dealt with when she is summoned tomorrow. You need not have fear for her."

Rakka nodded, and bowed, turning to attend to her job. She knew without being told she'd been dismissed. The old Communicator's words had been comforting, even if they had truly told her nothing she could understand. Still she was suddenly certain that Aoi would be all right when facing him. The rest she would have to find out later.

* * *

Reki, in the middle of preparing dinner, had just come out of the kitchen to quickly check on a sleeping Aoi when she spotted Nemu also back in the room, looking very uncertainly at a piece of parchment she was holding in her hands.

"I wasn't sure whether to wake her," Nemu whispered, looking up when she sensed Reki staring at her from the curtained-off area.

"She needs her rest; by tomorrow she should not be plagued by weakness," Reki answered. "Besides, I was going to wake her when dinner was ready. What do you have there?"

Nemu simply put it in Reki's outstretched hand. "It is from the Renmei."

Reki thus knew what it was even before she read it. Of course. It always happened. The Renmei summons, and this time, for Aoi.

"Tomorrow morning," Reki mused. "Not surprising."

"But Rakka's already returned the halo mold, and she never goes until the afternoon," fretted Nemu. "Unless she wishes to go in early..."

"I'll take her." A bit more sharply than she meant, Reki's voice cut into Nemu's thoughts.

"_You?"_

_"Me," _Reki asserted firmly over Nemu's stare. "There are things that old man should end up telling Aoi, and I also want to be there. And..."

Reki trailed off abruptly, before simply ending it with, "...there are other things I must know out of him as well."

Nemu chose not to question her. Those sleepy eyes of hers always saw more than she ever told anyone else. Patiently waiting for her own Day Of Flight, she had the time to observe others. Reki had been preparing to leave them all...and now she wasn't. Nemu knew this with a certainty. Of course Reki would probably want to know why, and would seek her answers from the Renmei.

* * *

"Aoi? Wake up; it is time for dinner."

Rakka's voice intruded on Aoi's sleep, and the sensation of being gently shaken sent pain lancing through her shoulders and sides.

She awoke with a gasp and a wince, stiffening and drawing away from Rakka's touch.

Rakka drew back at once. "Oh, sorry, Aoi! I should have remembered about your wings!"

"It is all right." Aoi looked at her with sleep-bleary eyes. Although it hurt to do so, she forced herself to sit up from her stomach-sleeping position and rubbed her eyes, yawning.

"Time to wake up, Sunshine!" Hikari said cheerily from where she stood beside the veranda windows. She suddenly blanched when Rakka started to laugh, and glanced outside at the darkening sky.

"Ooh...maybe I should've said Starshine, then, huh?" she amended, with a nervous titter of her own.

"It doesn't matter," said Reki, her smile indicating that she found it all very amusing. "As soon as Kana wanders her way back in here, we'll be ready for dinner. In the meantime, Aoi..."

She picked up a piece of parchment from the table and handed it to Aoi, as the other girl arose from the bed and shook out her skirt so it fell into place neatly.

Her face visibly whitened as she read the message, and so did the knuckles on her hands, going from too-pale to no color of any sort.

Hikari watched this, worried. "Reki, what is it?" she asked out loud nervously. "Is that Aoi's summons from the Renmei?"

"Yes," Reki answered. "Nemu found it a few hours ago on the bulletin board."

Aoi felt all strength leave her body, and she abruptly sat back down on the bed. She was still very white, and she laid the parchment aside with a sigh.

"Aoi, you should not be afraid," Rakka said kindly, sitting beside her and picking up the parchment herself. "It isn't as bad as what you are imagining."

The look Aoi gave her was still troubled. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and, after concentrating a moment, managed to make her wings flutter under her own command.

"See? That is a good thing right there!" Rakka said, forcing a cheerful smile onto her face. "You can already move your wings somewhat! That will be a big plus to the Communicator."

"You've mentioned before that it is a good idea that I move my wings," Aoi said softly, taking a few deep breaths. Color slowly came back into her face.

"It is, and I'll explain why while we eat, if that helps," Rakka said reassuringly. "I asked him, Aoi."

"What?" Reki's eyes snapped up, and she abruptly ceased setting the table. "Rakka, did you question the communicator about Aoi?"

Rakka blushed deeply. "Um...a little," she admitted. "He didn't answer in any way I could understand, but he said that she was simply a newborn, and that I need not fear for her."

"Hmph!" Reki shrugged. "It is just like him to be so cryptic." She strode over to the bed and plucked the parchment from Rakka's hands. "You won't have to go alone, Aoi. I'll go with you tomorrow."

"You will?" For some odd reason Aoi felt a sense of relief. She didn't even know how to get to the temple, and she dreaded visiting it alone.

"I will," Reki nodded. "It is no trouble. I need to speak to the Renmei anyways about something else. In the meantime, Rakka, telling Aoi what to expect during dinner is a good idea. Afterwards, you can practice with your wings some more. Rakka is quite right, Aoi, when she says there is nothing to truly fear from your visit to the Renmei. It is mostly just an interview, nothing more."

* * *

"I'm baaack!" crowed Kana as she strode into the room. "And I managed to aquire a little shadow on the way in here, so be prepared."

"A shadow? What sort of--" Reki began, before a blur of laughing pink came rushing happily into the room. "_Oh_."

"Hi there!" giggled little Hana, ending her whirlwind entry into the room by going directly to the guest bed and climbing up on it beside Aoi, and tugging on Aoi's sleeve excitedly. "Hi, new girl! I've come to eat with you guys tonight!"

"Well, if that isn't good news!" Aoi let the little girl's mood infect her, and she played along, picking up the little girl as she herself stood up, and automatically looking around for a bench that would fit her tiny size at the dinner table.

"Hana!" Reki scolded. "Did you sneak away from the House Mother again?"

"Well no, not exactly," said Hana nonchalantly. "I didn't want the dinner she served! The housemother said eat it or I'd have to take my chances with you guys, because either way I would not get what I demanded for dinner."

"Hana, do not argue with the housemother on what is placed before you," Reki began to scold, before she noticed Aoi humming to herself and finding the special bench they used for the Young Feathers who visited. She set Hana down and picked the bench up, then pretended it was very heavy, so that Hana scrambled over and picked up the other end.

In reality, the bench wasn't heavy at all, and Reki knew it. It was smart of Aoi to let Hana think she was helping. The little girl's face beamed with pride.

It made Reki shrug and smile to herself. The Young Feathers were so spirited it wasn't always a sure win to argue with them. Sometimes you lost, and it appeared this was one of them. The other older feathers didn't even seem to blink with their tiny guest inviting herself to dinner. Another place setting was produced for her, and that was it. 

Besides, Aoi seemed momentarily diverted from her worry. It was an interesting twist, but it looked like she clicked with Hana instantly.

"...And I've learned lots of wing tricks!" Hana was already happily chattering to an intently-listening Aoi. "Would you pick up that banana for me, Aoi?"

Puzzled, Aoi did so, and watched as Hana turned around and extended her arms out in front of her.

Abruptly her little wings came together over the banana. She giggled as Aoi, surprised, lost her grip on the fruit.

The banana didn't fall, for Hana's wings held it tight.

Even Kana seemed impressed at that one. "Now _that_ is a cool trick," she remarked.

"Yes, well, don't attempt it, Aoi," Reki advised. "You would hurt yourself."

"Maybe right now," Aoi countered. "But that was a really impressive trick!" She smiled at Hana while retreiving the banana. Hana beamed at her.

"It was, for once," Kana herself was still very impressed. "Imagine how much more I could handle if I could hold things with my wings, as well as my hands?..."

"I don't think our wings are meant to be used in such a fashion," Reki mused as she set bowls of food on the table. "What if they got _stuck_ that way?"

"That's ridiculous," Kana dismissed. "All the young feathers can clap their wings together, although this is the first time I've seen any of them hold something with 'em."

"They started that to annoy the house mother and myself," Reki shook her head, smiling, as she started to fill her plate.

"Looks like they succeeded, from the way you're complaining," Hikari chuckled.

Reki sighed and leaned back in her chair in defeat. "I give up."

Aoi and Hana looked at each other, and simply grinned.

"Can you move your wings yet?" asked Hana a few minutes later as everyone began to eat.

"Well, kind of," Aoi admitted, fluttering her wings a little bit.

"Oooh, let me practice with you!" Hana begged. "I taught Rakka!"

"Did you now?" Aoi asked, glancing at Rakka. The messy-haired Haibane blushed and nodded with a nervous chuckle.

"Practice after dinner then," Nemu said, overhearing. "And don't overdo it, Aoi. It is good to get your wings working, but they are still sensitive and your skin is still covered in scabs."

Aoi nodded her understanding before glancing back at Rakka. "Um, Rakka?" she asked. "Would you tell me now? About what I should expect from the Temple visit?"

Rakka looked surprised for a moment, then nodded her head. "Certainly."

* * *

Aoi quietly listened over the course of dinner. The bells, the silence, the Haibane Renmei notebook. She decided not to mention the fact that Hikari had forgotten to tell her all this before her own first temple visit.

Aoi in her turn told Rakka how she'd seen the Communicator at the Great Gate Square earlier in the day.

"So that is why he was so late," Rakka sighed in relief. "I could not imagine what he was doing...I sat there for quite a while."

"It was strange for both him and those Toga to be in the square when it wasn't Marketing day," Kana mused. "I wonder what they are up to."

"It is unlikely we'll ever know the answer to that," said Nemu placidly. "It must have been important, though, at least by Renmei standards."

"Well, whatever the case, Aoi, I would not worry too much," said Rakka optimistically. "He seemed scary at first to me. I found out he's actually a nice man. You'll be all right; I'm certain of it."

Aoi nodded. "Thank you for cheering me on," she said softly. "I'll face him, no matter what. It is just one of those things I know I have to do."

* * *

"In, out, in, out..."

In the end, Aoi did submit to Hana's wing exercises for a little while to please her. The child had a sunny nature that had quickly seeped into Aoi's heart, and already she was immensely fond of the little girl.

"Do you see how easy it is?" asked Hana, when Aoi's wing movements matched hers without pause. "It is no trouble at all."

"No, it isn't," Aoi admitted. For a six-year-old girl she had been remarkably right here. It truly didn't seem all that complicated to control her wings, if she stopped fighting to make them obey and just flowed with it instead. "You are such a good teacher, Hana!"

Hana beamed a smile at her, then suddenly stood up and bowed formally. "I am happy to have been of service to you!" she announced.

"And now it is time for our helpful teacher to get back to the Housemother before she has a fit," announced Reki, who had watched the whole affair with great amusement.

Hana marched over and threw her arms around Aoi's legs, holding on tightly. "_No_! I'm not done having fun here!"

"It is getting close to your bedtime," Reki tried to reason with her.

"So what! Teachers can stay up late and go to bed at any old time they want!" She held onto Aoi's leg tighter and made a stubborn face at Reki. "I'm _teaching_ the new girl, so I get to stay up!"

"You know, Hana," Aoi said quickly, catching the little girl's attention. "Except for Shorta I've never met the other kids. I'd like to see them, but I don't know the way, and I need a big, strong girl to show me there. Do you know anybody who can help me?"

"I can do it!" Hana volunteered at once, raising an arm in the air. "I can show you the way! The other kids wanna see your wings! We all want white wings now, but the Housemother is mean! She agrees with Reki, and says we can't paint them!"

"Paint might damage your wings," Aoi said. "And the Housemother is worried about that. But yes, Hana, why don't you show me the way?"

"Okay!" came the eager reply as Hana let go of her and scrambled to get the coat she'd carelessly dropped in the hall. "Hurry, Aoi, and grab your coat. Last one outside's a rotten egg!"

Aoi laughed and went to go find her sweater and shawl. Hikari went over and nudged Reki, who was chuckling to herself in amusement. 

"You know that if the Housemother gets her hands on Aoi she'll not be back for a while! Aoi won't be back till they're _all_ in bed--the Housemother'll see to that!"

"Oh, I know," Reki shook her head, but she was still smiling.

"Reki!"

"You're right," Reki shrugged, but still smiled at Hikari's scolding look. "I'll follow in a short while."

It was only fair, Reki figured. She shouldn't let Aoi wander into that old dragon's den by herself so totally unprepared. Even though she'd been letting others take over her responsibilities, this was still technically her duty.

* * *

"Hana, do you know how late it is?!" The housemother immediately proceeded to scold the little girl--who paid absolutely no attention to it--before she realized the figure who had accompanied Hana was not one she knew.

Oh," she said, then straightened up. "So!" she snapped, "You're the new girl everyone here has been endlessly fussing about, aren't you?!"

"Um...yes, Ma'am," Aoi said hesistantly, before bowing politely. "My name is Aoi. Are you the Housemother?"

"I am," the little old lady replied, standing tall and firm. Nary a smile cracked her face. "Well, as long as you're here, you can be of some use to me. You good with kids?"

"Ah, well...I don't know," Aoi admitted.

"Oh, Aoi's great!" piped up Hana eagerly. "Hey, everybody! I was a teacher today! I taught Aoi how to move her wings!"

"Teacher? I wanna teach, too!"

"Hey, everyone! It is true! She's got white wings!"

"Lemme see!"

"Yeah, me too!"

"Shorta wasn't fibbing! Man, her wings are so white!"

"They're pretty!"

"I want white wings! I _still_ say we use paint!"

Aoi was suddenly surrounded by nine different children, eagerly poking and peering at her wings.

"Be careful!" said Hana importantly. "Her wings are still new! You'll hurt them!"

A thump of a cane firmly on the floor startled everyone. The housemother stood there like a dragon, tall and proud.

"Nobody will be painting their wings. Yes, Aoi's wings are white, but her wings are not Aoi. All of who she is, is what makes her Aoi. Not just her wings. Is that understood?"

"Yes, housemother," everyone chorused. The children scattered as the Housemother approached Aoi herself, saying out loud, "Well, we will see how good you are with children tonight, my girl! I do need help at times getting all these kids into bed. You will fit the bill tonight nicely, I think."

"I will be pleased to do what I can," Aoi answered with a small bow, already deciding that she'd not let this woman order her about as if she had no mind for herself. She firmly faced the old lady. "Do you keep storybooks here?"

"Over there," the old woman pointed to a wall full of books with her cane.

"Are they ever read to?"

"Sometimes. Often at the library, but once in a while here as well." 

"Ah. All right," Aoi said, then raised her voice so all the kids could hear her. "Hey, everyone!"

All the kids paused in their play to look at her.

"Who here wants a _really good_ bedtime story tonight?"

"We do! We do!" came a chorus of eager voices.

"Well then..." Aoi went to the bookshelf and pulled what looked to her like a really thick storybook off the wall. "Everyone who manages to tidy up this playroom and get ready for bed--quickly and without fussing--gets to hear a story before they go to bed!"

The children gleefully began to scramble around and gather up toys, paper, crayons, and trash and put them in the appropriate receptacles.

The housemother looked at Aoi for a few seconds. Aoi was very surprised to see a sudden bit of warmth enter her hard brown eyes and a small smile hover at the edges of her lips. "Well, I think I'll keep you here at least a night a week, my girl!"

Aoi blushed. "What I did just seemed logical."

"That isn't the point." The housemother's hard voice softened unexpectedly. "You know, I knew a white-winged Haibane in my youth, and I knew her really well. Me, her, and the grandmother to that thrift store owner in town. We were a trio, and I was very sad the day she disappeared from my life."

"Was she...a good person?" Aoi said, feeling her chest tighten a little bit.

"She was sad at times, but underneath that sadness, she was a free spirit. Loved the Hill of Winds. Those were happy days for us."

* * *

Reki arrived just in time to find Aoi helping a load of children wash up and get into pajamas, and not at all surprised at finding her doing so. She had known the Housemother would try and put her to work immediately.

"You can do your share," the housemother commanded, thrusting a bundle of pajamas into Reki's arms at once. "Come on, get to it and help. You've been slacking, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Reki grumbled, "_old dragon_..."

This, however, was whispered, out of the old lady's hearing.

"They're being obedient tonight, and you can thank Aoi for that," said the Housemother.

"All I did was promise them a story!" Aoi protested, pulling a long, warm nightgown over Hana's head and holding the hem steady as Hana's little wings burst through the back of the garment.

"They've got a weak spot for stories," Reki shook her head, amused.

"Every child loves a story," Aoi countered with a smile.

Under the housemother's watchful eye, the two girls quickly got all the children ready for bed, before gathering back into a cozy corner with all their pillows. Hana immediately placed herself on Aoi's lap, something she considered a seat of honor, apparently.

Every child lost herself in the storyteller's voice, which took them out of this dorm room and into a different faraway place, a magical place, filled with royalty, dwarves, witches, adventure, and a happy ending when good triumphed over evil.

* * *

Aoi stretched herself, ignoring the twinges of pain in her back, as they stood in the entryway to the kids' building.

"I do hope you consider helping out at least once a week," said the Housemother as Aoi reached for her shawl. "They like you. I do presume, of course, that you wish to explore other job options first."

"I will try my best," Aoi promised her. "At least once a week. There are some other jobs I'd like to try as well."

The old lady nodded. "Well, good night then," she said as the two Haibane left, entering the courtyard in the dark of night.

Reki sighed. "So, I see you survived your first official Haibane job," she joked. "The Housemother is something else."

"She's not so bad," Aoi said, to Reki's surprise. "She might look hard, but she does love those children."

"Yeah, she can be tough, and she calls them brats, but I do know she loves them," Reki admitted. "They are just an intense, energetic handful! Are you tired?"

"A little, but I enjoyed myself. I won't mind helping with the kids sometimes. I do not believe I can do so full time, but sometimes is okay."

"You were really good with them," Reki cast a glance back over her shoulder back at the dark shadow that was the children's building.

"Yes, I found that out. I like children, I suppose. I don't think it is what I want to fully devote myself to, though," Aoi considered. "I don't think even my patience stretches that far."

"You'll do fine. Hana adores you."

"She's sweet," Aoi said without hesistation. "I don't mind how much she shadows me."

"Sweet, yes, but also very willful," Reki chuckled. "You will have your hands full, I promise you that! Now I think you should go back to bed...your first full day as a Haibane and you were so weak earlier this afternoon, and then that woman had you chasing after kids. You will sleep tonight!"

And by the next morning, Aoi discovered that Reki had been quite right about that.


End file.
